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CELEBRATED STATESMEN 



BY 



JOHN QUINCY ADAMS, LL. D, 



WITH 



A SKETCH OF THE AUTHOR, 



BY THE 



EEV. CHAELES W. UPHAM, 



NEW-YORK. 
WILLIAM H. GRAHAM, TRIBUNE BUILDINGS, 

1846. 



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JOHN QUINCY ADAMS 

BY REV. C. W. UPHAM. 



John Quincy Adams is one of those men whose history is so marked and signalized 
by the events that crowd into their lives, and the variety and greatness of the services 
they have rendered, that no mere language of eulogy can be compared in impressive- 
ness with the simplest narrative of their actions. We may dismiss the entire vocabu- 
lary of superlatives, and set aside all the terms that are used to describe the qualities 
of objects, and in the plainest possible language, mention, in order, the posts he has 
occupied, and the public labors he has performed, and the reader will rise from the 
bare record with an appreciating sense of his usefulness and greatness, such as no high- 
flown general panegyric could possibly produce. 

No American has had the opportunities and privileges he has enjoyed; and no one, 
it is probable, ever will. He was the child of parents, so great and so good, that it 
would have been strange, indeed, if his character had not received a deep and perma- 
nent impression from their examples and influence. It was his singular privilege to 
receive the most precious boon of a benignant Providence, in the original constitution 
and innate ingredients of his mental and spiritual nature — a full measure of the excel- 
lent qualities of both his father and his mother. In the strength of his intellect, in the 
largeness of his political views, and the fervent energy of his impulses, we behold the 
traits of that character which made John Adams a master-spirit of the American revo- 
lution ; and whoever reads the letters, or retains in his memory an image of his mother, 
will trace the influence of that admirable woman in many of the finer features of the 
mind and spirit of her son. It was his privilege to receive, in his earliest youth, les- 
sons of piety, morality and patriotism from the lips of parents whose lives enforced 
their precepts, and presented bright and noble examples of the virtues they inculcated. 

John Quincy Adams was born in Braintree, in Massachusetts, in that part of the 
town which has since been set off and incorporated by the name of Quincy, on Saturday, 
July 11th, 1767. He was named "John Quincy," from the following circumstances. 
His mother was the daughter of Rev. Wm. Smith, pastor of the Congregational church 
in the neighboring town of Weymouth. The wife of Mr. Smith, the maternal grand- 
mother of the subject of this memoir, was Elizabeth Quincy, daughter of John Quinc}^, 
who is mentioned by Hutchinson as the owner of Mount Wollaston, had shared largely 
in the civil and military distinctions of his time and country, and in honor of him the 
present town of Quincy received its name. When Quincy was on his death-bed, and 
expired a few hours after the birth of his great grandchild — at the special request of 
the grandmother, the name of her father, then lying dead, was given to the new-born 
infant, who was baptized the next day, in the Congregational church of the Free Parish 
of Braintree. 

JVIr, Adams has been favored in the period which his life has covered, as well as in 

the influences under which it commenced. His history runs back to the beginning of 

the revolution, embraces its trying and stimulating experiences, and includes the entire 

range of wonderful events which have been accumulated within the last seventy years. 

The earlier years of most men that have become eminent in after life are not found 



JOHN QUINCY ADAM S 



to have been remarkable for any great variety of adventure, or extraordinary positions 
in society. But the youth of Mr. Adams, dating even into his childhood, was certainly 
marked by very many circumstances as unusual and memorable as the long and eminent 
career of his public life since has proved a fitting sequence to them. Towards the 
close of the year 1777, John Adams was appointed Joint Commissioner, with Benjamin 
Franklin and Arthur Lee, to the Court of Versailles. The boy, John Quincy, then in 
the eleventh year of his age, accompanied his father to France. They sailed from 
Boston in February, 1778, and arrived at Bordeaux early in April. During the period 
of their stay in France, which was about eighteen months, young Adams was kept in 
a French school, studying the native language, with the usual classical exercises, which 
were nowhere better taught, at that time, than in the institutions of Paris. The diplo- 
matic arrangements with the French Government having been brought to a fortunate 
close, they returned to America, in the French ship La Sensible, and in company with the 
Chevalier de la Luzerne, who had been despatched by the government as minister to 
the United States. They arrived in Boston on the 1st of August, 1779 ; but the great 
talents and prosperous services of John Adams, as manifested on both sides of the water, 
and the perilous circumstances of the country — for it was really one of the darkest 
periods of the Revolutionary struggle — still turned the eyes of the National Council 
upon him. Within three months after his return, he was again despatched to Europe 
by Congress. Resolving to educate his son not more by books than an early familiarity 
with important scenes and events, and a full comprehension of the characters and posi- 
tions of different nations, he took his son with him on this second voyage. The frigate \ 
they sailed in was commanded by the celebrated naval character. Commodore Tucker. - 
The ocean was covered with the fleets of the enemy : and the whole passage was a succes- 
sion of hazardous adventures and narrow escapes, as well from hostile squadrons as the 
f severity of tempests. They were frequently pursued by enemies of vastly superior 
/ force, and once or twice were on the very point of capture. The commander had de-J 
;' termined to yield to no force, however great, without a struggle, and as the pursuing 
vessel approached, all hands were beat to quarters, and the frigate cleared for action. 
It was on this occasion that John Adams, impatient of inaction, threw off the ambas- 
sador, and hurrying up Irom his cabin, placed himself with the sailors at the side of a 
cannon — a moment for the young son to gather that enthusiasm, that intrepid patriotism 
and personal courage that belonged to descendants of the Puritans, and which have cha- 
racterized his history at all subsequent periods of his life. 

Certainly, no person in this country v/as ever favored with such an education as for- 
tunate circumstances gave to the youth of John Quincy Adams. The voyages and 
residences with his father in Europe, were precisely adapted to nurture and bring into 
a vigorous and comprehensive development, all the desirable qualities and attainments 
of mind and heart of one destined to act a great and patriotic part in the history of his 
country. He witnessed the private and familiar intercourse of his learned and accom- 
plished father with all the great dignitaries of foreign courts, and with the most eminent 
and celebrated scholars and philosophers of that age. He often listened also to the 
sober and solemn discussions of the great champions and friends of the liberty and 
independence of his country, in that trying time. Franklin and Lee, and other lead- 
ing Americans, were frequently at his father's lodgings, and the intelligent and ardent 
boy entered into the spirit of the anxious debates in which they were absorbed, in re- 
ference to the prospects of America, and the vibrating issue of the fearful and most 
momentous conflict in which she was engaged. His mind and heart were wrought 
upon most deeply by the "dread uncertainty" that hung over the destinies of his distant 
country^ and by these influences the sources were early deepened and purified of that 
patriotism which is a passion in his breast, and, in its solemnity and fervor, rises fre- 
quently, in his writings and speeches, to the elevation of a religious sentiment. 

He had the advantage, too, of becoming familiar — as he could not otherwise have be- 
come, while so young — with the history, resources, interests, and prospects of America. 
It M^as his father's business to secure favor and aid from the governments of Europe, for 
the American States, in the unequal contest with the power of Britain — a business 
which he accomplished with a success and efficiency that entitles him to be considered 



JOHN QUINCY ADAMS 



as the preserver and saviour of the independence of his country. Without foreign aid, 
the colonies could not have triumphed — that foreign aid John Adams was the great in- 
strument in securing. His diplomatic services, in this regard, have never been fully 
appreciated. Bravery, skill, fortitude and patriotism did all that they could do, on the 
battle-field and in council, here in America; but without supplies of money and muni- 
tions from abroad, so that 

'< War might, best upheld, 
Move by her two main nerves, iron and gold, 
In all her equipage" — 

without these, the cause would have been lost. Young Adams was, doubtless, often a 
witness and listener to the earnest appeals, and convincing statements, and minute ex- 
hibitions of the means, and extent, and natural resources of the revolted colonies, by 
which his father persuaded cabinets and capitalists that the revolution was not a chimer- 
ical, and visionary, and impracticable struggle, but a movement in pursuit of independ- 
ence by a country worthy of their respect and of their aid, and which, if seasonably 
and sufficiently aided and encour£^ed, would soon vindicate her right to demand admis- 
sion into the family of nations. A better school for a young statesman cannot be ima- 
gined, than his experience while with his father on his mission to foreign courts. 

In the meanwhile the lessons of virtue and religion were reiterated to his mind and 
heart in the letters of his mother. The strains in which that noble woman addressed 
him, have often been presented to the public ; a single passage here is sufficient :— " It 
is your lot, my son, to own your existence among a people who have made a glorious 
defence of their invaded liberties, and who, aided by a generous and powerful ally, with 
the blessing of heaven, will transmit this inheritance to ages yet unborn ; nor ought it 
to be one of the least of your incitements towards exerting every power and faculty 
of your mind, that you have a parent who has taken so large a share in this contest, 
and discharged the trust reposed in him with so much satisfaction as to be honored with 
the important embassy that now calls him abroad. The strict and inviolate regard you 
have ever paid to truth, gives me pleasing hopes that you will not swerve from her 
dictates; but add justice, fortitude, and every manly virtue which can adorn a good 
citizen, do honor to your country, and render your parents supremely happy, particu- 
larly your ever affectionate mother." — His character and his attainments, while in 
foreign countries, during this portion of his youth, gave evidence that his opportunities 
and privileges were not thrown away. 

In going to Europe the second time, the frigate sprung a leak in a gale of wind, and was 
forced to vary from her port of destination, which was Brest, and to put into the port of 
Ferrol, in Spain. From there they travelled to Paris— from Paris they went to Holland. 
The lad was put to school, in Paris ; afterwards in Amsterdam, and finally, in the Uni- 
versity of Leyden. In July, 178 1, Mr. Francis Dana, (father of the poet, R. H. Dana,) 
who had been secretary to the embassy of John Adams, was commissioned as Plenipo- 
tentiary to Russia, and he took with him John Quincy Adams, then fourteen years of 
age, as his private secretary. His letters from St. Petersburgh to his friends in America, 
betray a marked intelligence and power of observation early awakened. He remained 
in Russia, with Mr. Dana, until October, 1782, when he left St. Petersburgh, and returned 
alone, through Sweden, Denmark, Hamburg and Bremen to Holland, spending the winter 
in the route, and stopping some time in Stockholm, Copenhagen and Hamburg. In Hol- 
land he remained some months, until his father took him from the Hague to Pans, where 
he was present at the signing of the Treaty of Peace in September, 1783, and from that 
time to May, 1785, he was with his father in England and Holland, as well as France. 
At London he had rare opportunities for the early formation of the future statesman, 
being introduced by distinguished members of Parliament upon the floor of the House, 
and listening many times to the eloquence of Burke, Pitt, Fox, Sheridan, and other 
eminent orators, whose great talents at that time adorned the British nation. In his 
eighteenth year his father yielded to his solicitations, and allowed him to return to his 
native country. He entered Harvard University at an advanced standing, and w^ 
graduated as Bachelor of Arts, in 1787, with distinguished honor. He then entered 
1* 



JOHN QUINCY ADAMS. 



the office, at Newburyport, of the celebrated Theophilus Parsons, afterwards Chief Jus- 
tice of Massachusetts. Upon completing the study of the law, he entered the profes- 
sion and established himself in Boston. He remained there four years, extending his 
acquaintance with the first principles of law, and taking part in the important questions 
which then engrossed the attention of the people. In the summer of 1791, he pub- 
lished a series of papers, widely circulated and much spoken of, under the signature of 
Publicola, in the Boston Centinel, containing remarks upon the first part of Paine's 
Rights of Man. In these articles, he showed his sagacity in being among the first to 
suggest doubts of the favorable issue of the French Revolution. These pieces were 
reprinted in England. 

Notwithstanding Mr. Adams' previous extraordinary life, and the unquestioned attain- 
ments he had made in various knowledge, he seems at this time to have been dissatisfied 
both with what he had done and with what lay before him. A passage from his Diary 
at that period, furnished by his son, finely illustrates the severe opinions he had formed 
of the laborious diligence to be practised by a young man, of whatever abilities, who may 
be desirous of effectively serving his country, or of acquiring for himself an honorable 
name. 

" Wednesday, May 16th, 1792. I am not satisfied with the manner in which I employ my time. 
It is calculated to keep me forever fixed in that state of useless and disgraceful insignificancy, which 
has been my lot for some years past. At an age bearing close upon twenty-five, when many of the 
characters who were born for the benefit of their fellow creatures have rendered themselves conspi- 
cuous among their cotemporaries, and founded a reputation upon which their memory remains, and 
will continue to the latest posterity — at that period, I still find myself as obscure, as unknown to the 
world, as the most indolent, or the most stupid of human beings. In the walks of active life, I have 
done nothing. Fortune, indeed, who claims to herself a large proportion of the merit which exhibits 
to public view the talents of professional men, at an early period of their lives, has not hitherto 
been peculiarly indulgent to me. But if to my own mind I inquire whether I should^ at this time. 
be qualified to receive and derive any benefit from an opportunity which it may be in her power to 
procure for me, my own mind would shrink from the investigation. My heart is not conscious of 
an unworthy ambition ; nor of a desire to establish either fame, honor or fortune upon any other 
foundation than that of desert. But it is conscious, and the consideration is equally painful and hu- 
miliating, it is conscious that the ambition is constant and unceasing, while the exertions to acquire 
the talents which ought alone to secure the reward of ambition, are feeble, indolent, frequently in- 
terrupted, and never pursued with an ardor equivalent to its purposes. My future fortunes in life 
are, therefore, the objects of my present speculation, and it may be proper for me to reflect further 
upon the same subject, and if possible, to adopt some resolutions which may enable me, as uncle 
Toby Shandy said of his miniature sieges, to answer the great ends of my existence. 

" First, then, I begin with establishing as a fundamental principle, upon which all my subsequent 
pursuits and regulations are to be established, that the acquisition, at least, of a respectable reputa- 
tion is (subject to the overruling power and wisdom of Providence,) within my own power; and 
that on my part nothing is wanting, but a constant and persevering determination to tread in the 
steps which naturally lead to honor. And, at the same time, I am equally convinced, that I never 
shall attain that credit in the world, which my nature directs me to wish, without such a steady, 
patient and persevering pursuit of the means adapted to the end I have in view, as has often been 
the subject of my speculation, but never of my practice. 

' Labor and toil stand stern before the throne, 
And guard — so Jove commands — the sacred place.' 

" The mode of life adopted almost universally by my cotemporaries and equals is by no means 
calculated to secure the object of my ambition. My emulation is seldom stimulated by observing 
the industry and application of those whom my situation in life gives me for companions. The per- 
nicious and childish opinion that extraordinary genius cannot brook the slavery of plodding over the 
rubbish of antiquity (a cant so common among the heedless votaries of indolence), dulls the edge of 
all industry, and is one of the most powerful ingredients in the Circean potion which transforms 
many of the most promising young men into the beastly forms which, in sluggish idleness, feed upon 
the labors of others. The degenerate sentiment, I hope, will never obtain admission in my mind ; 
and if my time should be loitered away in stupid laziness, it will be under the full conviction of my 
conscience that I am basely bartering the greatest benefits with which human beings can be indulg- 
ed, for the miserable gratifications which are hardly worthy of contributing to the enjoyments of 
the brute creation. 

" And as I have grounded myself upon the principle that my character is, under the smiles of 
heaven, to be the work of my own hands, it becomes necessary for me to determine upon what part 
of active or of sppculative life I mean to rest my pretensions to eminence. My own situation and 
that of my country equally prohibit me from seeking to derive any present expectations from a pub- 
lic career. My disposition is not military; and, happily, the warlike talents are not those which 



JOHN QUINCY ADAM3 



open the most pleasing or the most reputable avenue to fame. I have had some transient thoughts of 
undertaking some useful literary performance, but the pursuit would militate too much at present 
with that of the profession upon which I am to depend, not only for my reputation, but for my sub- 
sistence. 

" I have, therefore, concluded that the most proper object of my present attention is that profes- 
sion i'seJf. And in acquiring the faculty to discharge the duties of it, in a manner suitable to my 
own wishes and the expectations of my friends, I find ample room for close and attentive applica- 
tion ; for frequent and considerate observation ; and for such benefits of practical experience as 
occasional opportunities may throw in my way." 

Following out these sentiments — which we have given as presenting, like a mirror, 
the forecast of all his subsequent long and active, yet always studious life — Mr. Adams 
applied himself with renewed effort to whatever most strongly demanded his attention. 
In April, 1793, before Washington had published his proclamation of neutrality, or it 
was known that he contemplated doing it, Mr. Adams published in Boston three articles, 
signed Marcellus, strongly arguing that the United States ought to assume such a posi- 
tion, in the war then begun between England and France. In these papers he laid 
down his creed, as a statesman, in two great central principles, to which he has always 
steadfastly adhered — Umox among ourselves, and Independexce of all entangling alli- 
ance, or implication, with the policy or condition of foreign states. In the winter of 
1793-4-, he published another series of papers, vindicating the course of President Wash- 
ington in reference to the French minister, Genet. These writings, in connection with 
Mr. Adams' previous career, attracted the marked regard of Washington, and in 1794, 
he was appointed, without any intimation of such a design to him or to his father. 
"Minister of the United States to the Netherlands. It appears that Mr. Jefferson, also, 
recommended him for this appointment. For a period, now of seven years, from 1794' 
to 1801, he was in Europe, in diplomatic missions to Holland, England and Prussia. 
Just before Washington retired from office, he appointed him Minister Plenipotentiary 
to Portucral. On his wav to Lisbon, he received a new commission, chano-ins: his des- 
tination to Berlin. He continued there from November, 1797, to April, ISOI, and 
concluded an important treaty of commerce with Prussia. At the close of his father's 
administration he returned home, arriving in Philadelphia in September, 1801. 

In 1802, he was elected from Boston a member of the Massachusetts Senate, and soon 
allei, by the legislature of that State, a Senator in Congress from the 4th of March, 
1803. While a Senator in Congress he was appointed Professor of Rhetoric and Ora- 
tory in Harvard University, and his lectures were published in two octavo volumes, de- 
livered in the recesses of Congress, attracted great attention, and gathered crowded and 
admiring audiences, in addition to academical hearers. His powers of elocution have 
always been pre-eminent, and the published lectures have been very widely read and 
admired. He resigned his seat in the Senate in 180S. In 1809, Madison sent him as 
Plenipotentiary to Russia. 

While in Russia he furnished the Port Folio, edited in Philadelphia by the celebrated 
Joseph Dennie, and to which, from first to last, Mr. Adams was a frequent contributor, 
a series of letters, entitled, "Journal of a Tour through Silesia." They were repub- 
lished in England, in an octavo volume, reviewed in the leading journals of the da}', 
and afterwards translated into French and German. 

While in Russia, his services were of vast importance, and produced effects upon our 
foreign relations, felt most beneficently to this day. By his instrumentality the Emperor 
of Russia was induced to mediate for peace between Great Britain and the United States, 
and President Madison named him at the head of the commissioners sent to negotiate 
the treaty which brought the war of 1812 to a close. This celebrated transaction took 
place at Ghent, in December, 1814. Henry Clay, and Albert Gallatin were in the 
same commission : after its concliasion he proceeded, accompanied by them, to London, 
and negotiated a convention of commerce with Great Britain. He was then appointed 
Minister Plenipotentiary at the court of St. James. There is a coincidence here quite 
worthy of remark. As the father, John Adams, took the leading part in negotiating the 
treaty with England at the close of the Revolutionary war, and was the first American 
ambassador in London, after that event, so the son was at the head of the negotiators 
who brought the second war with Great Britain to a close, and presented his creden- 



8 JOHNQUINCYADAMS. 



tials, as the first American ambassador at that court, after the restoration of peace. In 
1817, he was called home by President Monroe, to what is really the second office in 
the government, to be in the cabinet as Secretary of State. 

This was the close of Mr. Adams' career as a foreign minister. It was, perhaps, the 
most brilliant, as it certainly was the most varied and interesting portion of his life. 
No representative of our country abroad has at all approached him, whether in the 
length of time his services were continued, the number of courts at which he attended, 
or the variety and importance of the advantages he achieved for the Republic. The 
fortunes of the commonwealth were just shaping themselves — a new nation was to as- 
sume a definite position and character by the side of other great powers, and it was a 
matter of moment to whose hands the foreign relations of the country should be com- 
mitted. It was fortunate that the early Presidents of the United States entertained 
some adequate idea of what belonged to the dignity of the Government, and had dis- 
cernment to see with whom so great interests abroad might safely be entrusted. Mr. 
Adams' first appointment, as Minister Plenipotentiary, was conferred on him by George 
Washington, and in accordance, moreover, with the strong recommendation of Thomas 
Jefferson. Madison, during his whole administration, committed to him the most im- 
portant trusts, appointed him to represent the United States at the two most powerful 
courts in the world, St. Petersburgh and St. James', and assigned him as the chief of that 
distinguished embassy, which arranged the treaty of peace with Great Britain. The 
encomjum, in brief, which Washii^ton pronounced upon him, when as early as 1797, 
he declared him " the most valuable public character we have abroad, and the ablest of 
all our diplomatic corps," is but the judgment that belongs to the whole long period of 
his public service in Europe. 

The act of Mr. Monroe in placing him at the head of his cabinet, met with the fullest 
approval of the country. General Jackson, who had not yet learned to suffer headstrong 
prejudice to blind the eyes of a candid discernment, gave expression to that approbation 
in pronouncing him "the fittest person for the office; a man who would stand by his 
country in the hour of danger." The department of State was held by Mr. Adams 
during the whole of Monroe's administration, a period of eight years ; and the duties 
of it were discharged with such ability and success, as greatly to increase the public 
confidence in him as a statesman and a patriot. Of the adjustment of the claims of 
Spain, the acquisition of Florida, and the recognition of the South American Republics, 
with many other important issues, effected under his influence, and the vast amount of 
labor, generally, which he expended in the service of the country, it will belong to 
his future biographer to present an adequate view to posterity. 

In the Presidential election, which took place in the fall of 1824, Mr. Adams was 
one of four candidates. As no one of them received a majority of electoral votes, it 
was, of course, flung into the House of Representatives. On the 9th of February, 1825, 
the two Branches of Congress convened together in the Hall of the House, to open, 
count, and declare the electoral votes. Andrew Jackson was found to have 99 votes, 
John Quincy Adams, 84 votes, William H. Crawford, 41 votes, and Henry Clay, 37 
votes. In accordance with the Constitution, the Senate then withdrew, and the House 
remained to cast ballots till a choice should be made. It was required to vote by States ; 
the Constitution limited the election to the three candidates who had the highest elec- 
toral vote ; and the balloting Avas to continue till a majority of the States had declared 
for one of the three. Mr. Adams having received as many popular votes as General 
Jackson, the fact that the latter had obtained a larger electoral vote did not have so 
much influence as would otherwise have belonged to it ; so that at the moment of bal- 
lotting it was entirely uncertain which would be successful. Thirteen States were ne- 
cessary to a choice, the whole number being twenty-four. The ballots were thrown, 
and it was found that the six New England States, with New York, Maryland, Ohio, 
Kentucky, Illinois, Missouri and Louisiana, thirteen States, had declared for " John 
Quincy yVdams, of Massachusetts ;" and he was therefore duly elected President of the 
United States for four years, from the 4th of March, 1825. A Committee was then 
appointed to wait upon him with information of the result: who, the next day, reported 
the following in reply : 



JOHNQUINCYADAMS, 9 



" Gentlemen : — In receiving this testimonial from the representatives of the people and States 
of this Union, I am deeply sensible of the circumstances under which it has been given. All my 
predecessors in the high station to which the favor of the House now calls me, have been honored 
with majorities of the electoral voices in their primary colleges. It has been my fortune to be 
placed, by the divisions of sentiment prevailing among our countrymen on this occasion, in compe- 
tition, friendly and honorable, with three of my fellow-citizens, all justly enjoying, in eminent de- 
grees, the public favor ; and of whose worth, talents, and services, no one entertains a higher or more 
respectful sense than myself. The names of two of them were, in the fulfilment of the provisions of the 
Constitution, presented to the selection of the House, in concurrence with my own ; names closely as- 
sociated with the glory of the nation, and one of them further recommended by a larger minority of 
the primary electoral suffrages than mine. In this state of things, could my refusal to accept the 
trust, thus delegated to me, give an immediate opportunity to the people to form and to express, with 
a nearer approach to unanimity, the object of their preference, I should not hesitate to decline the 
acceptance of this eminent charge, and to submit the decision of this momentous question again to 
their determination. But the Constitution itself has not so disposed of the contingency which would 
arise in the event of my refusal ; I shall therefore repair to the post assigned me by the call of my 
country, signified through her constitutional organs, oppressed with the magnitude of the task be- 
fore me, but cheered with the hope of that generous support from my fellow-citizens, which, in the 
vicissitudes of a life devoted to their service, has never failed to sustain me ; confident in the trust, 
that the wisdom of the Legislative Councils will guide and direct me in the path of my official duty, 
and relying, above all, upon the superintending Providence of that Being " in whose hands our breath 
is, and whose are all our ways." 

"Gentlemen: I pray you to make acceptable to the House the assurance of my profound grati- 
tude for their confidence, and to accept yourselves my thanks for the friendly terms in which you 

have communicated their decision. 

''JOHN QUINCY ADAMS. 

" Washington, lOth February, 1825." 

The administration of Mr. Adams, like every other portion of his life, was too 
crowded with matter for history to admit of comment here. That it met with severe 
opposition, open and secret, all know, who are conversant with the records of the times. 
That, in reality, it was eminently dignified, moderate, conciliatory towards foreign 
powers, and wisely regardful of the future welfare of the country, will be made manifest, 
we are equally certain, by the pens of historians in another generation. 

Retiring from the Executive Chair in 1829, Mr. Adams, for the first time in a period 
of thirty-six years, passed into the quiet of a private life. It is impossible, however, 
for such men to hide away from the public eye. In 1831, the suffrages, nearly unani- 
mous, of his native Congressional district, remanded him back to the service of the 
Commonwealth, electing him to a seat in the House of Representatives. The venerable 
ex-president accepted the appointment, and has since filled the office for fourteen suc- 
cessive years — not more, perhaps, from a fervent desire to serve the Republic, than 
from the fact, that his whole life, from the merest boyhood, having been passed before 
the world, among stirring movements and events, it has become to him, in a manner, 
the mode of existence. It might very well be doubted if he would enjoy half as good 
health or spirits in complete retirement. 

But though thus, in his 78th year, still actively engaged in the public service, Mr. 
Adams yet pays the most diligent every-day attention to books. He has practised this, 
indeed, at all periods of his life, in the midst of the most important and engrossing oc- 
cupations. A striking illustration, among many others, may be taken from the period 
of his administration. Harassed, as he was at that time, in addition to the usual Ex- 
ecutive duties, with unremitting and violent opposition, distracted with various dissen- 
sions at home, as well as very difficult foreign relations, Mr. Adams still found time to 
draw up, for the improvement of his son, then a student at law, the most elaborate ab- 
stracts of the chief Orations of Cicero, and the Provencal Letters of Pascal. With 
such diligence, joined to a mind discursive yet perpetually observant, it is not wonderful 
that he should have acquired so vast a store of various information. The fields of 
knowledge which his intellect has traversed, and to which his memory can recur— es- 
pecially in ancient literature, in history, and the many forms of philosophy — are im- 
mense. He has, above all, the most wide and thorough acquaintance with the social 
and political progress of the human race. It may safely be affirmed, that Mr. Adams 
knows more of the public and secret politics of all nations for the last hundred years 
than any man living. 



10 JOHN QUINCy ADAMS, 



As we have not attempted to write the biography of this remarkable man, so we 
would not attempt to portray his character. These belong to the future historian. 
Posterity will take sufficient care that these be not neglected. Whether every parti- 
cular act of his, in a public life of half a century, any more than the whole career of 
any other man who has moved many years before the people, is completely defensible, 
may then be determined. That, however, notwithstanding the various jealousies, the 
personal and party asperities— ripening too often into bitter animosities— which have 
arisen from time to time in the turmoil of political contests, Mr. Adams has a larger 
share, than any man among us, of the affectionate respect of his countrymen, has been 
evinced, we think, by the universal public voice. Men who warmly differ with him, 
on great national or sectional questions, cannot fail to venerate him for his extensive 
knowledge, his eminent abilities, his long public services, his earnest integrity, and the 
fervent purity of his moral character. No better proof of this could be adduced, than 
the welcomes which greeted him everywhere, from city to city, on his journey to the 
West, some months since, to take part in a scientific celebration. 

Mr. Adams is still in equable health and vigorous, walks with a short but firm and 
elastic step, and remains in perfect possession of all his intellectual faculties. _ No per- 
son who should see him breasting at sunrise the waters of the Potomac, as is his custom 
every day from the middle of spring till the middle of autumn, or traversing on foot, as 
he frequently does in the morning, before the sitting of the House commences, the en- 
tire distance of a mile and a half from his residence, near the President's, to the Capi- 
tol, would suppose that nearly eighty years of a most laborious life have passed over 
him. Certainly, any one listening to him speaking, fluently and clearly, an hour at a 
time on the floor of Congress, or conversing a whole evening without cessation, must 
be convinced that the powers of his mind are altogether unimpaired. He has a resi- 
dence in Washington, and generally stays there till May, though the session may have 
closed before. In the summer and autumn he remains in his ancestral mansion, at 
Quincy. May he continue yet many years in the land he has so long honored, and 
CO down to future time under that affectionate and venerable title, accorded him by his 
country — " the old man eloquent." 



THE LIFE AND CHARACTER 



OF 



JAMES MADISON. 



* 



When the impeiial despot of Persia sur- 
veyed the myriads of his vassals, whom he 
had assembled for the invasion and conquest of 
Greece, we are told by the father of profane 
history,! that the monarch's heart, at first, 
distended with pride, but immediately after- 
wards sunk within him, and turned to tears of 
anguish at the thought, that within one hundred 
years from that day, not one of all the countless 
numbers of his host would remain in the land 
of the living. 

The brevity of human life had afforded a 
melancholy contemplation to wiser and better 
men than Xerxes, in ages long before that of 
his own existence. It is still the subject of 
philosophical reflection or of Christian resig- 
nation, to the living man of the present age. It 
will continue such, so long as the race of man 
shall exist upon earth. 

But it is the condition of our nature to look 
hefore and after: The Persian tyrant looked /or- 
wardy and lamented the shortness of life ; but 
in that century which bounded his mental 
vision, he knew not what was to come to pass, 
for weal or woe, to the race whose transitory 
nature he deplored, and his own purposes, 
happily baffled by the elements which he 
with absurd presumption would have chastised, 
were of the most odious and detestable charac- 
ter. 

Reflections upon the shortness of time allot- 
ted to individual man upon this planet, may be 
turned to more useful account, by connecting 
them with ages past than with those that are to 
come. The family of man is placed upon this 
congregated ball to earn an improved condi- 
tion hereafter by improving his own condition 
here — and this duly of improvement is not less 
* Written in 1S36. f Herodotus. 



a social than a selfish principle. We are bound 
to exert all the faculties bestowed upon us by 
our Maker, to improve our own condition, by 
j improving that of our fellow men ; and the pre- 
cepts that we should love our neighbor as our- 
selves, and that we should do to others as we 
would that they should do unto us, are but 
examples of that duty of co-operation to the im- 
provement of his kind, which is the first law of 
God to man, unfolded alike in the volumes of 
nature and of inspiration. 

Let us look hack then for consolation from the 
thought of the shortness of human life, as urged 
upon us by the recent decease of James Madi- 
son, one of the pillars and ornaments of his 
country and of his age. His time on earth was 
short, yet he died full of years and of glory- 
less, far less than one hundred years have 
elapsed since the day of his birth — yet has he 
fulfilled, nobly fulfilled, his destinies as z man 
and a Christian. He has improved his own 
condition by improving that of his country and 
his kind. 

He was born in Orange County, in the Brit- 
ish Colony of Virginia, on the 5th of March, 
1750 ; or according to the computation of time 
by the Gregorian Calendar, adopted the year 
after that of his birth, on the 16th of March, 
1751, of a distinguished and opulent family ; 
and received the early elements of education 
partly at a public school under the charge of 
Donald Robertson, and afterwards in the pater- 
nal mansion under the private tuition of the 
Rev. Thomas Martin, by whose instructions 
he was prepared for admission at Princeton 
College. 

There are three stages in the history of the 
North American Revolution — the first of which 
may be considered as commencing with the or- 



12 



JAMES MADISON . 



der of the British Council for enforcing the 
acts of trade in 1760, and as having reached its 
crisis at the meeting of the first Congress four- 
teen years after at Philadelphia. It was a strug- 
gle for the preservation and recovery of the 
rights and liberties of the British Colonies. It 
terminated in a civil wrar, the character and ob- 
ject of which were changed by the Declaration 
of Independence. 

The second stage is that of the War of In- 
dependence, usually so called — but it began 
fifteen months before the Declaration, and was 
itself the immediate cause and not the effect of 
that event. It closed by the preliminary Treaty 
of Peace concluded at Pans on the 30th of 
November, 1782. 

The third is the formation of the Anglo- 
American People and Nationof North America. 
This event was completed by the meeting of 
the first Congress of the United States under 
their present Constitution on the 4th of March, 
J789. Thirty years is the usual computation for 
the duration of one generation of the human 
race. The space of time from 17G0 to 1790 in- 
cludes the generation with which the North 
American Revolution began, passed through 
all its stages, and ended. 

The attention of the civilized European 
world, and perhaps an undue proportion of our 
own, has been drawn to the second of these 
three stages — to the contest with Great Britain 
for Independence. It was an arduous and ap- 
parently a very unequal conflict. But it was 
not without example in the annals of mankind. | 
It has often been remarked that the distinction 
between rebellion and revolution consists only 
in the event, and is marked only by difference 
of success. But to a just estimate of human af- 
fairs there are other elementary materials of 
estimation. A revolution of government, to the 
leading minds by which it is undertaken, is an 
object to be accomplished. William Tell, Gus- 
tavus Vasa, William of Orange, had been the 
leaders of revolutions, the object of which had 
been the establishment or the recovery of popu- 
lar liberties. But in neither of those cases had 
the part performed by those individuals been 
the result of deliberation or design. The sphere 
of action in all those cases was incomparably 
more limited and confined — the geographical 
dimensions of the scene narrow and contracted 
— the political principles brought into collision 
of small compass— no foundations of the social 



compact to be laid — no people to be formed — 
the popular movement of the American Revo- 
lution had been preceded by a foreseeing and 
directing mind. I mean not to say by one 
mind ; but by a pervading mind, which in a 
preceding age had inspired the prophetic verses 
of Berkley, and which may be traced back to 
the first Puritan settlers of Plymouth and of 
Massachusetts Bay. "From the first Institu- 
tion of the Company of Massachusetts Bay," 
says Dr. Robertson, " its members seem to have 
been animated with a spirit of innovation in 
civil policy as well as in religion ; and by the 
habit of rejecting established usages in the one, 
they were prepared for deviating from them in 
the other. They had applied for a royal char- 
ter, in order to give legal effect to their opera- 
tions in England, as acts of a body politic; but 
the persons whom they sent out to America, as 
soon as they landed there, considered them- 
selves as individuals, united together by volun- 
tary association, possessing the natural right of 
men who form a society to adopt what mode of 
government and to enact what laws they deem- 
ed most conducive to general felicity." 

And such had continued to be the prevailing 
spirit of the people of New England from the 
period of their settlement to that of the revolu- 
tion. The people of Virginia, too, notwithstand- 
ing their primitive loyalty, had been trained to 
revolutionary doctrines and to warlike habits ; 
by their frequent collisions with Indian w^ars ; 
by the convulsions of Bacon's rebellion, and by 
the wars with France, of which their own bor- 
ders were the theatre, down to the close of the 
war which immediately preceded that of the 
revolution. The contemplation and the defiance 
of danger, a qualification for all great enter- 
prise and achievement upon earth, was from the 
very condition of their existence, a property 
almost universal to the British Colonists in 
North America ; and hardihood of body, unfet- 
tered energy of intellect and intrepidity of spi- 
rit, fiited them for trials, which the feeble and 
enervated races of other ages and climes could 
never have gone through. 

For the three several stages of this new 
Epocha in the earthly condition of man, a su- 
perintending Providence had ordained that there 
should arise from the native population of the 
soil, individuals with minds organized and with 
spirits trained to the exigencies of the times, 
and to the successive aspects of the social 



JAMES MADISON. 



13 



state. In the contest of principle which origi- 
nated with the attempt ef the British Govern- 
ment to burden their Colonies with taxation by 
act of Parliament, the natural rights of man- 
kind found efficient defenders in James Otis, 
Patrick Henry, John Dickinson, Josiah Quin- 
cy, Benjamin Franklin, Arthur Lee and nu- 
merous other writers of inferior note. As the 
contest changpd its character, Samuel and John 
Adams and Thomas Jefferson were among the 
first who raised the standard of Independence 
and prepared the people for the conflict through 
which they were to pass. For the contest of 
physical force by arms, Washington, Charles 
Lee, Putnam, Green, Gates, and a graduation of 
others of inferior ranks had been prepared by 
{he preceding wars — by the conquest of Cana- 
da and by the previous capture of Louisburg. 
From the beginning of the war, every action 
was disputed with the perseverance and tena- 
city of veteran combatants, and the minute rnen 
of Lexington and Bunker's Hill were as little 
prepared for flight at the onset as the Macedo- 
nian phalanx of Alexander or the tenth legion 
of Julius Cffisar. 

But the great work of the North American 
revolution was not in the maintenance of the 
rights of the British Colonies by argument, nor 
in the conflict of physi<:al force by war. The 
Declaration of Independence annulled the na- 
tional character of the American people. That 
character had been common to them all as sub- 
jects of one and the same sovereign, and that 
sovereign was a king. The dissolution of that 
tie was pronounced by one act common to them 
all, and it left them as members of distinct 
communities in the relations towards each 
other, bound only by the obligations of the law 
of nature and of the Union, by which they had 
renounced their connexion with the mother 
country. 

But what was to be the condition of their 
national existence ] This was the problem of 
difl[i?ult solution for them ; and this was the 
opening of the new era in the science of gov- 
ernment and in the history of mankind. 

Their municipal governments were founded 
upon the common law of England, modified by 
their respective charters; by the Parliamentary 
law of England so far as it had been adopted 
by their usages, and by the enactments of their 
own Legislative assemblies. This was a com- 
plicated system of law, and has formed a sub- 
2 



ject of much internal perplexity to many of the 
States of the Union, and in several of them 
continues unadjusted to this day. By the com- 
mon consent of all, however, this was reserved 
for the separate and exclusive regulation of 
each state within itself. 

As a member of the comnnunity of nations, 
it was also agreed that they should constitute 
one body — "\S Phiribiis Ununi'^ was the device 
which they assumed as the motto for their com- 
mon standard. And there was one great change 
from their former condition, which they adopt- 
ed with an unanimity so absolute, that no pre- 
position of a difTerent character was ever made 
before them. It was that all their governments 
should be republican. They were determined 
not only to be separati-ly republics, but to tole- 
rate no other form of government as constitut- 
ing a part of their community. A natural 
consequence of this determination was thai 
they should remain sepaiate independences, 
and the first suggestion which presented itself 
to them, was that their Union should be merely 
a confederation. 

In the first and in the early part of the second 
stage of the revoliuion, tiie name of James 
Madison had not appeared. At the com- 
mencement of tlie contest he was but ten years 
of age. When the first blood was shed, here in 
the streets of Boston, he was a student in the 
process of his education at Princeton College, 
where the next year, 1771, he received the de- 
gree of Bachelor of Arts. He was even then so 
highly distinguished by the power of applica- 
tion and the rapidity of his progress, that he 
performed all the exercises of the two senior 
Collegiate years in one — while at the same 
time his dpportment was so exemplary, that 
Dr. Wilherspoon, then at the head of that Col • 
lege, and afterwards himself one of the most 
eminent Patriots and Sages of our revolution, 
always delighted in bearing testimony to the 
excellency of his character at that early stage 
of his career; and said to Thomas JefTerson 
long afterwards, when they were all colleagues 
in the revolutionary Congress, that in the 
whole career of Mr. MAr)isoN at Princeton, he 
had never known him to say or do an indis- 
creet thing. 

Discretion in its influence upon the conduct 
of men is t!ie parent of moderate and concilia- 
tory counsels, and tliese were peculiarly indis- 
pensable to the perpetuation of the American 



14 



JAMES MADISON . 



Union, and to the prosperous advancement 
and termination of the revolution, precisely at 
the period when Mr. Madison was first intro- 
duced into public life. 

In 1775, among the earliest movements of 
the revolutionary contest, he was a member of 
the Committee of Public Safety of the County 
of Orange, and in 1776, of the Convention sub- 
stituted for the ordinary Legislature of the 
Colony. By one of those transient caprices of 
popular favour, which sometimes influence 
elections, he was not returned to the House of 
Delegates in 1777, but was immediately after 
elected by that body to the Executive Council, 
of which he continued a leading member till 
the close of the year 1779, and was then trans- 
ferred by the Legislature to the representation 
of the Commonwealth in the Continental Con- 
gress. His first entrance into public life was 
signalized by the resolution of the Convention 
of the State, instructing their Delegates to vote 
for the Independence of the Colonies ; by the 
adoption of a declaration of rights, and by their 
organisation of a State government, which con- 
tinued for more than half acenlury the Constitu- 
tion of the Commonwealth before it underwent 
the revision of the people; an event in which 
he was destined again to take a conspicuous 
part. On the 20th of March, 1780, he took his 
seat as a delegate in the Congress of the Con- 
federation. It was then in the midst of the re- 
volution, and under the influence of its most 
trying scenes, that his political character was 
formed ; and then it was that the virtue of dis- 
cretion, the spirit of moderation, the conciliatory 
temper of compromise found room for exercise 
in its most comprehensive extent. 

One of the provisions in the articles of Con- 
federation most strongly marked with that 
same spirit of Liberty, the vital breath of the 
contest in which our fathers were engaged ; the 
true and undying conservative spirit by which 
we their children enjoy that Freedom which 
they achieved; but which like all other pure 
and virtuous principles sometimes leads to 
error by its excess, was that no member of this 
omnipotent Congress should hold that office 
more than three years in six. This provision, 
however, was construed not to have com- 
menced its operation until the final ratification 
of the articles by all the States on the first of 
March, 1781. Mr. Madison remained in Con- 
gress nearly four years, from the 20th of March, 



1780, till the first Monday in November, 1783. 
He was thus a member of that body during the 
last stages of the revolutionary war and for one 
year after the conclusion of the Peace. He had, 
during that period, unceasing opportunities 
to observe the mortifying inefficiency of the 
merely federative principle upon which the 
Union of the States had been organized, and 
had taken an active part in all the remedial 
measures proposed by Congress for amending 
the Articles of Confederation. 

A Confederation is not a country. There is 
no magnet of attraction in any league of Sove- 
reign and Independent Stateswhich causes the 
heart-strings of the individual man to vibrate in 
unison with those of his neighbour. Confede- 
rates are not Countrymen, as the tie of affinity 
by convention can never be so close as the tie 
of kindred by blood. The Confederation of the 
North American States was an experiment of 
inestimable value, even by its failure, it taught 
our fathers the lesson, that they had more, 
infinitely more to do than merely to achieve 
their Independence by war. That they must 
form their social compact upon principles never 
before attempted upon earth. That the Achean 
league of ancient days, the Hanseatic league of 
the middle ages, the leagues of Switzerland or 
of the Netherlands of later time?, furnished no 
precedent upon which they could safely build 
their labouring plan of State. The Confedera- 
tion was perhaps as closely knit together as it 
was possible that such a form of polity could 
be grappled ; but it was matured by the State 
Legislatures without consultation with the 
People, and the jealousy of sectional collisions, 
and the distrust of all delegation of power, 
stamped every feature of the work with ineffi- 
ciency. 

The deficiency of powers in the Confedera- 
tion was immediately manifested in their in- 
ability to regulate the commerce of the country, 
and to raise revenue, indispensable for the dis- 
charge of the debt accumulated in the progress 
of the Revolution. Repeated efforts were made 
to supply this deficiency; but always without 
success. 

On the 3d of February, 1781, it was recom- 
mended to the several States as indispensably 
necessary that they should vest a power in 
Congress to levy for the use of the United 
States a duty of five per cent, ad valorem upon 
foreign importations, and all prize goods con- 



JAMES MADISON. 



15 



demned in a Couit of Admiralty ; the money 
arising from those duties to be appropriated to 
the discharge of the debts contracted for the 
support of the War. 

On the 18th of April, 1783, a new recom- 
mendation was adopted by Resolutions of nine 
States, as indispensably necessary to the resto- 
ration of public credit, and to the punctual and 
honorable discharge of the public debt, to in- 
vest the Congress with a power to lay certain 
specific duties upon spirituous liquors, tea, su- 
gar, coffee and cocoa, and five per cent, ad va- 
lorem upon all other imported articles of mer- 
chandise, to be exclusively appropriated to the 
payment of the piincipal or interest of the 
public debt. 

And that as a further provision for the pay- 
ment of the interest of the debt, the States 
themselves should levy a revenue to furnish 
their respective quotas of an' aggregate annual 
sum of one million five hundred thousand dol- 
lars. 

And that to provide a further guard for the 
payment of the same debts, to hasten their ex- 
tinguishment, and to establish the harmony of 
the United States, the several States should 
make liberal cessions to the Union of their 
territorial claims. 

With this act a Committee, consisting of Mr. 
Madison, Mr. Ellswor'h and Mr. Hamilton, 
was appointed to prepare an address to the 
States, which on the 26th of the same month 
was adopted, and transmitted together with ' 
eight documentary papers, demonstrating the 
necessity that the measures recommended by 
the act should be adopted by the States. 

This address, one of those incomparable 
State papers which more than all the deeds of j 
arras immortalized the rise, progress and ter- , 
mination of the North American revolution, was 
the composition of James Madison. After com- 
pressing into a brief and luminous summary all 
the unanswerable arguments to induce the re- 
storation and maintenance of the public faith, 
it concluded with the following solemn and 
prophetic admonition: 

" Let it be remembered, that it has ever been 
the pride and boast of America, that the rio^hts 
for which she contended, were the rights of 
human nati re. By the blessing of the Author 
of these rights on the means exerted for their 
defence, they have prevailed over all opposition, 
and form the basis of thirteen independentStates. 



No instance has heretofore occurred, nor can 
any instance be expected hereafter to occur, in 
which the unadulterated forms of republican 
Government can pretend to so fair an opportu- 
nity of justifying themselves by their fruits. 
In this view the citizens of the United States 
are responsible for the greatest trust ever con- 
fided to a political society. If justice, good 
faith, honor, gratitude and all the other quali- 
ties which ennoble the character of a nation, 
and fulfil the ends of Government be the fruits 
of our establishments, the cause of Liberty 
will acquire a dignity and lustre which it has 
never yet enjoyed ; and an example will be set 
which cannot but have the most favorable in- 
fluence on the rights of mankind. If, on the 
other side, our Governments should be unfor- 
I Innately blotted with the reverse of these car- 
dinal and essential virtues, the great cause 
which we have engaged to vindicate will be 
dishonored and betrayed; the last and fairest 
j experiment in favor of the rights of human 
j nature will be turned against them; and their 
patrons and friends exposed to be insulted and 
silenced by the votaries of tyranny and usur- 
pation." 

My countrymen! do not your hearts burn 
within you at the recital of these words, when 
the retrospect brings to your minds the time 
when, and the persons by whom they were 
spoken? Compare them with the closing par- 
agraphs of the address from the first Congress 
of 1774, to your forefathers, the people of the 
Colonies. 

" Your own salvation and that of your pos- 
terity now depends upon yourselves. Against 
the temporary inconveniences you may suffer 
from a stoppage of Trade, you will weigh in 
the opposite balance the endless miseries you 
and your descendants must endure from an es- 
tablished arbitrary power. You will not forget 
the Honor of your Country that must, from 
your behavior, take its title in the estimation 
of the world to Glory or to Shame; and you 
will with the deepest attention reflect, that if 
the peaceable mode of opposition recommended 
by us be broken and rendered ineflfectual, you 
must inevitably be reduced to choose either a 
more dangerous contest, or a final ruinous and 
infamous submission. We think ourselves 
bound in duty to observe to you that the 
schemes agitated against these Colonies have 
been so conducted as to render it prudent that 



16 



JAMES MADISON. 



ycu should extend your views to mournful 
events and be in all respects prepared for every 
contingency." 

That was the trumpet of summons to the 
conflict of tlie revoluiion; as the address of 
April, 1783 was the note of triumph at its close. 
They were the first and the last words of the 
Spirit, which in the germ of the Colonial con- 
test, brooded over its final fruit, the universal 
emancipation of civilized man. 

Compare them both with the opening and 
closing paragraphs of the Declaration of Inde- 
pendence, too deeply riveted in your memories 
to need the repetition of them by me; and you 
have the unity of action essential to all heroic 
achievement for the benefit of mankind, and 
you have the character from its opening to its 
close; the beginning, the middle and the end of 
that unexampled, and yet unimitateJ moral and 
political agent, the Revolutionary North Amer- 
ican Congress. 

But the Address of 1783 marks tlie com- 
mencement of one era in American History as 
well as the close of another. Madison, Ells- 
worth, Hamilton, were not of the Congre-s of 
1774, nor yet of the Congress which declared 
Independence. They were of a succeeding 
generation, men formed in and by the revolu- 
tion itself. They had imbibed the Spirit of the 
revolution, but the nature of their task was 
changed. Theirs was no longer the duly to 
call »pon their countrymen to extend their views 
to mournful events, and to prepare themselves 
for every contingency. But more emphatically 
than even the Congress of 1771, were they re- 
quired to warn their fellow citizens that their 
salvation and that of their posterity depended 
upon themselves. 

The warfare of self defence against foreign 
oppression was accomplished. Independence, 
unqualified, commercial and political, was 
achieved and recognised. But there was yet 
in substance no nation — no people — no country 
common to the Union. These had been self- 
formed in the heat of the common struggle for 
freedom ; and evaporated in the very success of 
the energies they had inspired. A Confedera- 
tion of separate State Sovereignties, never 
sanctioned by ihe body of the people, could 
furnish no effective Government for the nation. 
A cold and lifeless indifference to the rights, 
the interests, and the duties of the Union had 
fallen like a pa'sy upon all their faculties in- 



stead of that almost supernatural vigor which, 
at the origin of their contest, had inscribed upor. 
their banners, and upon their hearts, "join or 
die." 

In November, 1783, Mr. Madison's consti- 
tutional terra of service in Congress, as limited 
by the restriction in the articles of Confedera- 
tion, expired. But his talents were not lost to 
his Country. He was elected the succeeding 
year a member of the Legislature of his native 
State, and continued by annual election in that 
station till November, 178G, when having be- 
come re-eligible to Congress, he was again re- 
turned to that body, and on the 12ih of February, 
1787, resumed his seat among its members. 

In the Legislature of Viigir.ia, his labors, 
during his absence of three years from the 
general councils of the Confederacy, were not 
less arduous and unremitting, nor less devoted 
to the great purposes of revolutionary legisla- 
tion, than while he had been in Congress. The 
Colony of Virginia had been settled under the 
auspices of the Episcopal Church of England. 
It was there the established Church; and all 
other religious denominations, there, as in Eng- 
land, were stigmatised with the name of dis- 
senters. For the support of this Church the 
Colonial laws prior to the revolution had sub- 
jected to taxation all the inhabitants of the 
Colony, and it had been endowed with grants 
of property by the Crown. The effect of this 
had naturally been to render the Church esta^ 
blishment unpopular, and the clergy of thai 
Establishment generally unfriendly to the re- 
volution. After the close of the War, in the 
year 1784, Mr. Jefferson introduced into the 
Legislature a Bill for the establishment of Re- 
ligious Freedom, The principle of the Bill 
was the abolition of all taxation for the support 
of Religion, or of its Ministers, and to place 
the freedom of all religious opinions wholly 
beyond the control of the Legislature. 'Ihese 
purposes were avowed, and supported by a long 
argumentative preamble. The Bill failed how- 
ever to obtain the assent of the Assembly, and 
instead of it they prepared and caused to be 
printed a Bill establishing a provision for teach- 
ers of the Christian Religion. At the succeed- 
ing session of the Legislature, Mr. Jefferson 
was absent from the country, but Mi. Madison, 
as the champion of Religious Liberty, supplied 
his place. A memorial and Remonstrance 
against the Bill makin? provision fcr the leach' 



JAMES MAD IS ON. 



17 



ers of the Christian Religion was composed by 
Mr. Madison, and signed by multitudes of the 
citizens of the Commonwealth, and the Bill 
drafted by Mr. Jefferson, together with its pre- 
amble, was by the influence of his friend trium- 
phantly carried against all oppo?ition through 
the Legislature. 

The principle that religious opinions are 
altogether beyond the sphere of legislative con- 
trol, is but one modification of a more exten- 
sive axiom, which includes the unlimited 
freedom of the press, of speech, and of the 
communication of thought in all its forms. An 
authoritative provision by law for the support 
of teachers of the Christian Religion was pre- 
scribed by the third Article of the Bill of Rights 
in the Constitution of this Commonwealth. 



them which had delayed the conclusion of the 
Articles of Confederation; and the cession af- 
terwards made of the North Western Territory 
was encumbered with conditions which further 
delayed its acceptance. By the influence of 
Mr. Madison, the terms of the cession were so 
modified, that in conformity with them the or- 
dinance for the government of the North West- 
ern Territory was finally adopted and establish- 
ed by Congress on the 13th of July, 1787, in 
the midst of the labors of the Convention at 
Philadelphia, which two months later present- 
ed to the People of the United States for their 
acceptance, that Constitution of Government, 
thenceforth the polar star of their Union. 

The experience of four years in the Congress 
of the Confederation, had convinced Mr. Ma- 



An amendment recently adopted by the people j dison that the Union could not be preserved by 

means of that institution. That its inherent 
infirmity was a deficiency of power in the fede- 
ral head, and that an insurmountable objection 
to the grant of further powers to Congress, al- 
ways arose from the adverse prejudices and 



has given their sanction to the opinions of Jef- 
ferson and Madison, and the substance of the 
Virginian Sialute for the establishment of Re- 
ligious Freedom, now forms a part of the Con- 
stitution of Massachusetts. That the freedom 



and communication of thought is paramount to 'jealousy with which the demand of them was 



all legislative authority, is a sentiment becom- 
ing from day to day more prevalent throughout 
the civilized world, and which it is fervently to 
be hoped will henceforth remain inviolate by 
the legislative authorities not only of the Union, 
but of all its confederated States. 

At the Session of 1785, a general revisal was 
made of the Statute Laws of Virginia, and the 
great burden of the task devolved upon Mr. 
MadisoiN as chairman of the Judiciary Com- 
mittee of the House. The general principle 
which pervaded this operation was the adapta- 
tion of the civil code of the Commonwealth, to 
its republican and unfettered independence as a 
Sovereign State, and he carried it through with 
that same spirit of liberty and liberality which 
had dictated the Act for the establishment of 
Religious Freedom. The untiring industry, 
the searching and penetrating application, the 



urged by that body itself. The difficulty of 
obtaining such grant of power, was aggravated 
by the consideration that it was to be invested 
in those by whom it was solicited, and was at 
the same time, and in the same degree, to 
abridge the power of those by whom it was to 
be granted. 

To avoid these obstacles it occurred to Mr. 
Madison that the agency of a distinct, delegat- 
ed body, having no invidious interest of its own, 
or of its members, might be better adapted, de- 
liberately to discuss the deficiencies of the 
federal compact, than the body itself by whom 
it was administered. The friends with whom 
he consulted in the Legislature of Virginia, 
concurred with him in these opinions, and the 
motion for the appointment of Commissioners 
to consider of the state of trade in the confede- 
racy suggested by him, was made in the Legis- 



imperturbable patience, the moderation and lature by his friend, Mr. Tyler, and carried by 
gentleness of disposition, which smoothed his ! the weight of his opinions, and the exertion of 
way over the ruggedest and most thorny paths ! his influence, without opposition. 



of life, accompanied him through this transac- 
tion as through all the rest. While a member 
of the Legislature of Virginia, he had contri- 
buted more than any other person to the adjust- 
ment of that vital interest of the Union, the 
disposal of the Public Lands. It was the col- 
lision of opinions and of interests relating to 
2* 



This proposition was made and Commis- 
sioners were appointed by the Legislature of 
Virginia, on the 21st of January, 1786. The 
Governor of the Commonwealth, Edmund Ran- 
dolph, was placed at the head of the delegation 
from the State. Mr. Madison and six others, 
men of the first character and influence in the 



18 



JAMES MADISON. 



State, were the other Commissioners. The 
meeting was held at Annapolis in September, 
ar.d two Commissioners from New York, three 
from New Jersey, one from Pennsylvania, three 
from Delaware, and three from Virginia, con- 
stituted the whole number of this Convention. 
Five States only were represented, and among 
them, Pennsylvania by a single member. Four 
States, among whom was Maryland, the very 
Stale within which the Assembly vs'as held, had 
not even appointed Commissioners, and the de- 
puties from four others, among whom was our 
own beloved, native Commonwealth, suffering, 
even then, iha awful cjlamiiy of a civil war, 
generated by the imbecility of the federal com- 
pact of union, did not even think it worth while 
to give their attendance. 

Yet even in that Convention of Annapolis, 
was the germ of a belter order of things. The 
Commissioners elected John Dickinson, of Del- 
aware, their chairman, and after a session of 
three days, agreed upon a report, doubtless 
drafted by Mr. Maduon, — addressed to the 
Legislatures by which they had been appoint- 
ed, and copies of which were transmitted to 
the other State Legislatures and to Congress. 

Jn this report they availed themselves of a 
suggestion derived from the powers which the 
Legislature of New Jersey had conferred upon 
their Commissioners, and which contemplated 
a more enlarged revision of the Articles of Con- 
federation; and they urgently recommended that 
a second convention of delegates, to which all 
the Stales should be invited to appoint Com- 
missioners, should be held at Philadelphia, on 
the second Monday of the next May, for a ge- 
neral revival of the Cimsiitulion of the Federal 
Government, to render it adequate to the exi- 
gencies of the Union, and to report to Congress 
an act, which, when agreed to by them and 
confirmed by all the State Legislatures, should 
eiTtctually provide for the same. In this re- 
port first occurred the use of the terms Consti- 
tuUon of the Federal Guvernmcnt as applied to the 
United Slates — and the sentiment was avowed 
that it should be made adequate to the exio-en- 
cies of the Union. There was, however, yet 
no proposal for recurring to the great body of 
the people. 

The recommendation of the report was re- 
peated by Congress without direct refrirence to 
it, upon a resolution oflTered by the delegation 
of Massachu-etts, founded upon a proviso in 



the Articles of Confederation and upon instruc- 
tions from the Stale of New York to their dele- 
gates in Congress, and upon the suggestion oi 
several States. The Convention assembled ac- 
cordingly at Philadelphia, on the 9th of May, 
1787. 

In most of the inspirations of genius, there 
is a simplicity, which, when they are familiar- 
ized to the general understanding of men by 
their effects, detracts from the opinion of their 
greatness. That the people of the British Co- 
lonies, who, by their united counsels and en- 
ergies had achieved their independence, should 
continue to be one people, and constitute a na- 
tion under the form of one organized govern- 
ment, was an idea, in iiself so simple, and ad- 
dressed itself at once so forcibly to the reason, 
to the imagination, and to the benevolent feel- 
ings of all, that it can scarcely be supposed tc 
have escaped the mind of any reflecting man 
from Maine to Georgia. It was the dictate of 
nature. But no sooner was it conceived than 
it was met by obstacles innumejrable to the 
general mass of mankind. They resulted 
from the existing social institutions, diversified 
among the parties to the projected national 
union, and seeming to render it impracticable. 
There were chartered rights for the mainte- 
nance of which the war of the revolution itself 
had first been waged. There were State Sove- 
reignties, corporate feudal baronies, tenacious 
of their own liberty, impatient of a superior, 
and jealous and disdainful of a paramount So- 
vereign, even in the whole democracy of the 
nation. There were collisions of boundary 
and of proprietary right westward in the soil — 
southward, in its cultivator. In fine the diver- 
sities of interests, of opinions, of manners, of 
habits, and even of extraction were so great, 
that the plan of constituting them one People, 
appears not to have occurred to any of the 
members of the Convention before they wsre 
assembled t^igether. 

It was earnestly contested in the Conventiorj 
itself. A large proportion of the members ad- 
hered to the principle of merely revising the 
articles of the Confederation and of vesting 
the powers of Government in the confederate 
Congress. A proposition to that effect was 
made by Mr. Patterson of New Jersey, in a 
series of Resolutions, oflTercd as a substitute 
for those of Mr. Randolph, immediately after 
the first discussions upon them. 



JAMES MADISON. 



19 



Nearly four monlhs of anxious deliberation 
were employed by an assembly composed of 
the men who had been the most distinguished 
for their services civil and military, in conduct- 
ing the country through the arduous struggles 
of the revolution — of men who to the fire of 
genius added ail the lights of experience, and 
were stimulated by the impulses at once of 
ardent pattiotism ard of indivitiual ambition, 
aspiring to that last ami most arduous labor of 
constituting a nation destined in after times to 
present a model of Government for all the civi- 
lized nations of the earth. On the 17th of 
September 1787, they reported. 

When the substance of their work was gone 
through, a Committpe of five members, of whom 
Mr, Madison was one, was appointed to revise 
the style, and to a-range the Articles which had 
been agreed to by the Convention; and this 
Committee was afterwards charged with the 
preparation of an address to the People of the 
United States. 

The address to the People was reported in 
the form of a letter from Washington, the Presi- 
dent of the Convention, to the President of Con- 
gress ; a Letter, admirable for the brevity and 
the force with which it presents the concen- 
trated argument for the great change of their 
condition, which they called upon their fellow 
citizens to sanction. And this Letter, together 
with an addition of two or three lines in the 
preamble, reported by the same Committee, 
did indeed comprise the most powerful appeal 
that could sway the heart of man, ever exhibit- 
ed to the contemplation and to the hopes of the 
human race. 

It did not escape the notice or the animad- 
version of the adversaries to this new national 
crganir.ation. They were at the time when the 
Constitution was promulgated, perhaps more 
ncmerous, and scarcely less respectable, than 
the adherents to the Constitution themselves. 
They had also, in the management of the dis- 
cussion, almost all the popular side of the 
argument. 

Government in the first and most obvious as- 
pect which it assumes, is a restraint upon hu- 
man action, and as such, a restraint upon Liber- 
ty. The Constitu'ion of the United States was 
intended to be a government of great eneigy, 
and of course of extensive restriction not only 
upon individual Liberty but upon the corporate 
ac'.ioii cf States claiir.ing to be Sovereign and 



Independent. The Convention had been aware 
that such restraints upon the People, could be 
imposed by no earthly power other than the 
People themselves. They were aware that to 
induce the People to impose upon themselves 
such binding ligaments, motives not less co- 
gent than those which form the basis of human 
association were indispensably necessary. That 
the first principles of politics must be indisso- 
lobly linked with the first principles of morals. 
They assumed therefore the existence of a 
People of the United States, and made them 
declare the Constitution to be their own work 
— speaking in the fi'st person and saying We, 
the People of the United States, do ordain and 
establish this Constitution forthe United States 
of America — and then the allegation of motives 
— to form a more perfect union, to establish jus- 
ticp, insure domestic tranquillity, provide for the 
common defence, promote the general welfare, 
and secure the blessings of Liberty to ourselvs 
and our posterity. These are precisely the pur- 
poses for which it has pleased the Author of 
nature to make man a sociable being, and has 
blended into one his happiness with that of his 
kind. 

So cogent were these motives and so forcibly 
were they compressed within the compass of 
this preamble, and in the Letter from President 
Washington to the President of Congress, that 
this body immediately and unanimously adopt- 
ed the resolutions of the Convention, recom- 
mending that the prrjpcted Constitution should 
be transmitted to the Legislatures of the several 
Stales, to be by them submitted to Conventions 
of Delegates, to be chosen in each State by the 
People thereof, under the recommendation of 
its Legislature, for their assent and ratification. 
This unanimity cf Congress is perhaps the 
strongest evidence ever manifested of the utter 
con'empt into which the Articles of Confedera- 
tion had fallen. The Congress which tjave its 
unanimous sanction to the measure was itself 
to be annihilated by the Constitution thus pro- 
posed. The Articles of Confederation were to 
be annihilated with it. Yet all the members 
of the Congress so ready to sanction its disso- 
lution, had been elected by virtue of those Ar- 
ticles'of Confederation — to them the faith of all 
the States had been pledged, and they had ex- 
pressly prescribed that no alteration of them 
should be adopted, but by the unanimous con- 
sent of the States. 



20 



JAMES MADISON. 



Thus far the proposal first made by Mr. Ma- 
dison in the Legislature of Virginia, for the 
new political organization of the Union, had 
been completely successful. A People of the 
United States was formed. A Government, 
Legislative, Executive and Judicial was pre- 
pared for them, and by a daring though un- 
avoidable anticipation, had been declared by 
its authors to be the Ordinance of that people 
themselves. It could be made so only by their 
adoption. But the greatest labor still remained 
to be performed. The people throughout the 
Union were suffering, but a vast proportion of 
them were unaware of the cause of the evil that 
was preying upon their vitals. A still greater 
number were bewildered in darkness in search 
of a remedy, and there were not wanting those 
among the most ardent and zealous votaries of 
Freedom, who instead of adding to the powers 
of the general Congress, inefficient and imbe- 
cile as they were, inclined rather to redeem the 
confederacy from the forlorn condition to which 
it was reduced, by stripping the Congress of the 
pittance of power which they possessed. In 
the indulgence of this spirit the Delegates from 
our own Commonwealth of Massachussetts, 
by express instructions from their constituents, 
moved a Resolution that the election and ac- 
ceptance of any person as a member of Con- 
gress should forever thereafter be deemed to 
disqualify sucli person from being elected by 
Congress to any ofOce of trust or profit under 
the United Slates, for the term for which he 
should have been elected a member of that 
body. 

This morbid terror of p.itronage, this patriot- 
ic anxiety lest corruption should creep in by 
appointments of members of Congress to office 
under the authorities of the Union, has often 
been reproduced down even to recent days 
under the present Government of the Union. 
Upon the theories or the practice of the present 
age, it is not the time or the place here to com- 
ment. But we cannot forbear to remark upon 
the solicitude of our venerable forefathers in 
this Commonwealth, to remedy the imperfec- 
tion of the Articles of Confederation, the abuses 
of power, by the Congress of that day, and the 
avenues to corruption by the appointment of 
their members to office, when we consider tliat 
under the exclusions thus proposed, Washing- 
ton could never have commanded the armies of 
the United States: That neither Franklin, John 



Adams, Arthur Lee, John Jay, Henry Laurens, 
Thomas Jefferson, Robert Morrip, nor Robert 
R. Livingston could have served them as min- 
isters abroad, or in any ministerial capacity at 
home — and when we reflect that two public 
Ministers in E'lrope with their Secretaries, one 
Secretary of Foreign Affairs, one Secretary of 
War and three Commissioners of an empty 
Treasury, constituted the whole list of lucrative 
offices, civil and military, which they had to be- 
stow. 

This incident may serve as an illustration of 
the difficulties which were yet to be encounter- 
ed before the People of the United States could 
be prevailed upon to fix their seal of approbation 
upon a constitution issued in their name, and 
which granted to a central Government, destin- 
ed to rule over them all, powers of energy sur- 
passing those of the most absolute monarchy, 
and forming, in the declared opinion of Jeffer- 
son, the strongest Government in the world. 

In a people inhabiting so great an extent of 
Territory, the difficulties to be surmounted 
before they could be persuaded to adopt this 
Constitution, were aggravated both by their 
dissensions and by their agreements — by the 
diversity of their interests and the community 
of their principles. The collision of interests 
strongly tended to alienate them from one an- 
other, and all were alike imbued with a deep 
aversion to any unnecessary grant of power. 
The Constitution was no sooner promulgated, 
than it was assailed in the public journals from 
all quarters of the Union. 

The Convention was boldly and not unjust- 
ly charged with having transcended their pow- 
ers, and the Congress of the Confederation, 
were censured in no measured terms for having 
even referred it to the State Legislatures, to be 
submitted to the consideration of Conventions 
of the People. 

The Congress of the Confederation were in 
session at New York. Several of its members 
had been at the same time members of the Con- 
vention at Philadelphia — and among them were 
James Madison and Alexander Hamilton. John 
Jay was not then a member of Congress nor 
had he been a member of the Convention — but 
he was the Secretary of Congress for foreign 
affairs and had held that office, from the time 
of his return from Europe, immediately after 
the conclusion of the defioiiive Treaty of Peace. 
He had therefore felt in its most painful form the 



JAMES MADISON. 



21 



imbecility of the Confederacy of which he was 
the minister, equally incapable of contracting 
engagements with foreign powers with the 
consciousness of the power to fulfil them, or of 
energy to hold foreign nations to the responsi- 
bility of performing the engagements contract- 
ed on their part with the United States. New 
York, then the central point of the confederacy, 
was the spot whence the most effective impres- 
sion could be made by cool, dispassionate argu- 
ment on the public mind; and in the midst of 
the tempest of excitement throughout the coun- 
try occasioned by the sudden and unexpected 
promulgation of a system so totally different 
from that of the Confederation, these three per- 
sons undertook in concert, by a series of popu- 
lar Essays published in the daily journals of 
the time, to review the system of the confedera- 
tion, to demonstrate its inaptitude not only to 
all the futctions of Government, but even to 
the preservation of the Union, and the necessi- 
ty of an establishment at least as energetic as 
the proposed Constitution to the very existence 
of the United States as a Nation. 

The papers under the si;;natur8 of Publius 
were addressed to the People of the State of 
New York, and the introductory Essay, writ- 
ten by Hamilton, declared the purpose to dis- 
cuss all topics of interest connected with the 
adoption of the Constitution. The utility of 
the Union to the prosperity of the People : The 
insufficiency of the Confederation to preserve 
that Union: The necessity of an energetic 
Government : The conformity of the proposed 
Constitution to the true principles of a republi- 
can Government: Its analogy to the Consti- 
tution of the State of New York, and the addi- 
tional security which its adoption would afford 
to the preservation of republican Gevernment, 
to liberty and to property. The fulfilment of 
this purpose was accomplished in eighty six 
numbers, frequently since republished, and now 
constituting a classical work in the Eno-Iish 
language, and a commentary upon the Consti- 
tution of the Uuited States, of scarcely less au- 
thority than the Constitution itself. Written 
in separate numbers, and in very unequal pro- 
portions, it has not indeed that entire urity of 
design, or execution which raight have been 
expected, had it been the production of a single 
mind. Nearly two thirds of the papers were 
written by Mr. Hamilton. Nearly one third 
by Mr. Madison, and five numbers orly by 
Mr. Jay. 



In the distribution of the several subjects 
embraced in the ])lan of the work, the induce- 
ments to adopt the Constitutim arising fronts 
the relations of the Union with foreign nations, 
were presented by Mr. Jay ; the defects of the 
Confederation in this respect were so obvions. 
and the evil consequences flowing from them, 
were so deeply and unversally felt, that the 
task was of comparative ease, and brevity, with 
that of the other two contributors. The defects 
of the Confederation were indeed a copious 
theme for them all ; and in the analysis of 
them, for the exposition of their bearing on tlie 
Legislation of the several States, the two prin- 
cipal writers treated the subject so as to inter- 
lace with each other. The 18th, 19th and 3"th 
numbers are the joint composition of both. In 
examining closely the points selected by these 
two great co-operators to a common cause, and 
their course of argument for its support, it is 
not difficult to perceive that diversity of genius 
and of character which afterwards separated 
them so widely from eSch other on questions of 
political interest, affecting the construction of 
the Constitution which they so ably defended, 
and so strenuously urged their countrymen 
to adopt. The ninth and tenth numbers are 
devoted to the consideration of the utility of the 
Union as a safeguard against domestic faction 
and insurrection. They are rival dissertations 
upon faction and its remedy. The propensity 
of all free governments to the convulsions of 
faction is admitted by both. The advantages 
of a confederated republic of extensive dimen- 
sions to control this admitted and unavoidable 
evil, are insisted on witli equal energy in both 
— but the ninth number, written by Hamilton^ 
draws its principal illustrations from the his- 
tory of the Grecian Republics ; while the tenth, 
written by Madison, searches for the disease 
and for its remedies in the nature and the fa- 
culties of Man. There is in each of these num- 
bers a disquisition of critical and somewhaJ 
metaphysical refinement. That of Hamilton, 
upon a distinction, which he pronounces more 
subtle than accurate, between a confederacy zni 
eonsnlidalion of the States. That of Madison 
upon the difference between a Democracy and a 
Republic, as differently affected by Faction- 
meaning by a Democracy, a Government ad- 
ministered by the People themselves, and by a 
Republic, a Government by elective represen- 
tation. These distinctions in both cases have^ 



22 



JAMES MADISON. 



in our experience of tlie administration of the' 
general Government, assumed occasional im- 
portance, and formed the elements of warm 
and obstinate party collisions. 

The fourteenth number of the Federalist, the 
next in the series written by Mr. Madison, 
is an elaborate answer lo an objection which 
had been urged against the Constitution, drawn 
from the extent of country then comprised with- 
in the United States. From the deep anxiety 
pervading the whole of this paper, and a most 
eloquent and pathetic appeal to the spirit of 
union, with which it concludes, it is apparent 
that the objection itself was in the raind of the 
writer, of the most formidable and plausible 
character. He encounters it with all the acute- 
ness of his intellect and all the energy of his 
heart. His chief argument is a recurrence to 
his distinction between a Republic and a De- 
mocracy — and next to that by an accurate de- 
finition of the boundaries within which the 
United States were then comprised. The 
range between the 31st and 45th degree of 
North Latitude, the Atlantic and the Missis- 
sippi — he contends that such an extent of terri- 
tory, with the great improvements which were 
10 be expected in the facilities of communica- 
tion between its remotest extremes, was iwt in- 
compatible with the existence of a confederated 
republic — or at least that from the vital interest 
of the people of the Union, and of the Liberties 
of mankind in the success of the American Re- 
volution, it was worthy of an expeiiment yet 
untried in the annals of the world. 

The question to what extent of territory a 
confederate Republic, under one general gov- 
ernment may be adopted, without breaking 
into fragments by its own weight, or settling 
into a monarchy, subversive of the liberties of 
the people, is yet of transcendant interest, and 
of fearful portent to the people of the Union. 
The Constitution of the United Slates was 
formed for a people inhabiting a territory con- 
fined to narrow bounds, compared with those 
which can scarcely be said to confine them 
now. The acquisition of Louisiana and of 
Florida have more than doubled our domain ; 
and our settlements and our treaties have 
already removed our Western boundaries from 
the Mississippi to the Pacific Ocean. A colo- 
nial establishment of immense extent still 
hangs upon our Northern borders, and another 
ccnfederate Rppublic, seems to offer the most 



alluring spoils to our ambition and avarice at 
the South. The idea of embracing in one con- 
federated government the whole continent of 
North America, has, at this day, nothing chi- 
merical in its conception, and long before a 
lapse of time equal to that which has past since 
the 14ih number of the Federalist was written, 
may require the invincible spirit and the 
uncompromising energy of our revolutionary 
strufforle for its solution. 

The other papers of the Federalist, writters 
by Mr. Madison, are from the 37th to the 58th 
number inclusive. They relate to the difficul- 
ties which the Convention had experienced in 
the formation of a proper plan. To its con- 
formity with Republican principles, with an 
apologetic defence of the body for transcending 
their powers. To a general view of the powers 
vested by the plan in the general government, 
and a comparative estimate of the reciprocal 
influence of the general and of the State gov- 
ernments with each other. They contain a 
laborious investigation of the maxims which 
require a separation of the departments of 
power, and a discussion of the means for giving 
to it practical efficacy — and they close with an 
examination, critical and philosophical, of the 
organization of the House of Representatives in 
the Constitution of the United States — witii 
reference to the qualifications of the electors 
and the elected — to the term of service of the 
members ; to the ratio of representation ; to the 
total number of the body ; and to the expected 
subsequent augmentation of the members — and 
here he met and refuied an objection to the plan 
founded upon its supposed tendency to elevate 
the few above the many. These were the 
topics discussed by James Madison, and in 
leaving to his illustrious associate the develop- 
ment of the other Departments of the Senate, 
of the Executive, of the Judiciary, and the 
bearing of the whole system upon the militia, 
the commerce and revenues, the military and 
naval establishments, and to the public econo- 
my, it was doubtless because both from incli- 
nation and principle he preferred the conside- 
ration of those parts of the instrument which 
bore upon popular right, and the freedom of the 
citizens, to that of the aristocratic and monar- 
chical elements of the whole fabric. 

The papers of the Federalist had a powerful, 
but limited influence upon the public mind. 
The constitution was successively submitted 



JAMES MADISON. 



23 



to Conventions of the People, in each of the 
thirteen Slates, and in almost every one of 
them was debated against oppositions of deep 
feeling, and strong party excitement. The 
authors of the Federalist were again called to 
buckle on their armour in defence of their plan. 
The Convention for the Commonwealth of 
Viro-inia, met in June, 1788, nine months after 
the Constitution had been promulgated. It 
had already been ratified by seven of the 
Slates, and New Hampshire, at an adjourned 
session of her Convention, adopted it while 
the Convention of Virginia were in session. 
The assent of that State was therefore to com- 
plete the number of nine, which the Constitu- 
tion itself had provided should be sufficient for 
undertaking its execution between the ratifying 
States. A deeper interest was then involved in 
the decision of Virginia, than in that of any 
other member of the Confederacy, and in no 
State had the opposition to the plan been so 
deep, so extensive, so formidable as there. 
Two of her citizens, second only to Washing- 
ton by the r/eight of their characters, the 
splendor of their public services and the repu- 
tation of their genius and talents, Patrick Hen- 
ry, the first herald of the Revolution in the 
South, as James Otis had been at the North, 
and Thomas Jefferson, the author of the Decla- 
ration of Independence, and the most intimate 
and confidential friend of Madison himself, 
disapproved the Constitution. Jefferson was 
indeed at that time absent from the State and 
the country, as the representative of the United 
States at the Court of France. His objections 
to the Constitution were less fervent and radi- 
cal. Patrick Henry's opposition was to the 
whole plan, and to its fundamental principle 
the change from a confederation of Independent 
States, to a complicated government, partly 
federal, and partly naiional. He was a member 
of the Virginia Convention; and there it was 
that Mr. Madison was destined to meet and 
encounter, and overcome the all but irresistible 
power of his eloquence, and the inexhaustible 
resources of his ffi^antic mind. 

The debates in the Virginia Convention fur- 
nish an exposition of the principles of the 
Constitution, and a Commentary upon its pro- 
visions not inferior to the papers of the Fede- 
ralist. Patrick Henry pursued his hostility to 
the system into all its details; objecting not 
only to the Preamble and the first Article, but 



to the Senate, to the President, to the Judicial 
Power, to the treaty making power, to the con- 
trol given to Congress over the militia, and 
especially to the omission of a Bill of Rights — 
seconded and sustained with great ability by 
George Mason, who had been a member of the 
Convention which formed the Constitution, by 
James Monroe and William Grayson, there 
was not a controvertible point, real or imagi- 
nary, in the whole instrument which escaped 
their embittered opposition ; while upon every 
point Mr. Madison was prepared to meet them, 
with cogent argument, with intense and anxious 
feeling, and with mild, conciliatory gentleness 
of temper, disarming the adversary by the very 
act of seeming to decline contention with him. 
Mr. Madison devoted himself particularly to 
the task of answering and replying to the ob- 
■jections of Patrick Henry, following him step 
by step, and meeting him at every turn. His 
principal co adjutors were Governor Randolph, 
Edmund Pendleton, the President of the Con- 
vention, John Marshall, George Nicholas, and 
Henry Lee of Westmoreland. Never was there 
assembled in Virginia a body of men, of more 
surpassing talent, of bolder energy, or of purer 
integrity than in that Convention. The volume 
of their debates should be the pocket and the 
pillow companion of every youthful American 
aspiring to the honor of rendering important 
service to his country ; and there, as he reads 
and meditates, will he not fail to perceive the 
steady, unfaltering mind of James Madison, 
marching from victory to victory, over the 
dazzling but then beclouded genius and elo- 
quence of Patrick Henry. 

The result was the unconditional ratification 
by a majority of only eight votes, of the Con- 
stitution of the United States on the part of the 
Commonwealth of Virginia, together with re- 
solutions, recommending sundry amendments 
to supply the omission of a Eill of Rights. 
The example for this had been first set by the 
Convention of Massachusetts, at the motion of 
John Hancock, and it was followed by several 
other of the State Conventions, and gave occa- 
sion to the first ten Articles, amendatory of the 
Constitution prepared by the first Congress of 
the United States and ratified by the competent 
number of the State Legislatures, and which 
supply the place of a Bill of Rights. 

In the organization of the Government of the 
United States, W^ashington, the leader of the 



24 



JAMES MAD ISON 



armies of the revolution, the President of the 
Convention which had prepared the Constitu- 
tion for the acceptance of the People— first in 
War, first in Peace, and first in the hearts of 
his Countrymen, was by their unanimous voice 
called to the first Presidency of the United 
States. For his assistance in the performance 
of the functions of the Executive power, after 
the institution by Congress of the cliief De- 
partments, he selected Alexander Hamilton for 
tiie office of Secretary of the Treasury, and 
Thomas Jefferson for that of Secretary of State. 
Mr. Madison was elected one of the members 
of the House of Representatives in the first 
Congress of the United Slates under the Con- 
stitution. 

The Treasury itself was to be organized. 
Public credit, prostrated by the impotence of 
the Confederation, was to be lestored, provision 
was to be made for the punctual payment of the 
public debt— taxes were to be levied— the man- 
ufactures, commerce and navigation of the 
Country were to be fostered and encouraged ; 
and a system of conduct towards foreign pow- 
ers was to be adopted and maintained. A Ju- 
diciary system was also to be instituted, ac 
commodated to the new and extraordinary 
character of the general Government. A per- 
manent seat of Government was to be selected 
and subjected to the exclusive jurisdiction of 
Congress; and the definite action of each of 
the Departments of the Government was to be 
settled and adjusted. In the councils of Pre- 
sident Washington, divisions of opinion bi- 
tween Mr. Jefferson and Mr. Hamilton soon 
widened into collisions of piinciple and pro- 
duced mutual personal estrangement and irri- 
tation. In the formation of a general system 
of policy for the conduct of the Administration 
in National concerns at home and abroad, dif- 
ferent views were taken by Mr. Jefferson and 
Mr. Hemi'ton, whii-h Washington labored 
much, but with little success, to conciliate. 
Hamilton, charged by successive calls from the 
House of Representatives, for reports of plans 
for tlie restoration of public credit; upon the 
protection and encouragement of Manufactures, 
and upon a National Mint and Bank, transmit- 
ted upon each of those subjects reports of con- 
summate ability, and proposed plans most of 
which were adopted by Congress almost with- 
out alteration. The Secretary of State during 
the S5\me period ma':'e reports to Ccngrr-ss, not 



less celebrated, on the Fisheries, on the system 
of commercial regulations most proper to be es- 
tablished, and upon weights and measures. 
Negotiations with foreign powers, which the 
inefficiency of the confederation had left in a 
lamentable and languishing condition, humili- 
ating to the national honor and reputation, were 
resumed and reinstituted, and by long and com- 
plicated correspondences with the Govern- 
ments of Great Britain, Spain and France, the 
National character was in the first term of the 
administration of Washington redeemed and 
exhibited to the world with a splendor never 
surpassed, and which gave to the tone of our 
national intercourse with the Sovereigns of the 
earth a dignity, a firmness, a candor and mode- 
ration, which shamed the blustering and irick- 
ish diplomacy of Europe at that day and shed 
a beam of unfading glory upon the name of 
republican America. But the National Con- 
stitution had not only operated as if by en- 
chantment a most auspicious revolution in the 
character and reputation of the newly inde- 
pendent American People ; it had opened new 
avenues to honor and power and fame, and new 
prospects to individual ambition. 

No sooner was the new Government organ- 
ized than the eyes, the expectations and the 
interests and passions of men turned to the de- 
signation of the succession to the Presidency, 
when the official term of Washington should 
be completed. His own intention was to re- 
tire at the expiration of the first four years 
allotted to the service. The candidates of the 
North and South, supported by the geographi- 
cal sympathies of their respective friends, were 
already givii g rise to the agency of political 
combinations. The Northern candidate was 
not yet distinctly designated, but before the 
expiration of the first Congress, Mr. Jefferson 
was the only intended candidate of the South. 

The Protection of Manufactures, the resto- 
ration of public credit, the recovery of the se- 
curities of the public debt from a state of de- 
preciation little short of total debasement, and 
the facilities of exchange and of circulation 
furnished by the establishment of a National 
Bank, were of far deeper interest to the com- 
mercial and Atlantic than to the plantation 
States. Mr. Jefferson's distrust and jealousy 
of the powers granted by the Constitution fol- 
lowed him into office, and \reTe perhaps sharp- 
ened by the sucessful exercise of them, under 



JAMES MADISON. 



25 



ihe auspices of a rival statesman ; lie insisted 
ijpon a rigid construction of a!l the grants of 
^ower — he denied the Constitutional power of 
Congress to establish Corporations, and es- 
pecially a National Bank. The question was 
discussed in the Cabinet Council of Washing- 
ton, and written opinions of Mr. Jefferson and 
of Edmund Randolph, then Attorney General, 
against the Constitutional power of Congress 
to establish a Bank, were given. With these 
opinions, Mr. Madjson then concurred. Other 
questions of justice and expediency, connected 
with the funding system of Mr. Hamilton, gave 
jise to warm and acrimonious debates in Con- 
gress, and mingling with the sectional divisions 
of the Union, and with individual attachments 
to men, gave an impulse and direction to party 
spirit which has continued to this day, and how- 
ever modified by changes of times, of circum- 
stances, and of men, can never be wholly ex- 
tinguished. Too happy should I be, if with a 
?oice speaking from the last to the coming 
generation of my country, I could effectively 
arge the«i to seek, in the temper and modera- 
tion of James Madison, that healing balm 
which assuages the malignity of the deepest 
seated political disease, redeems to life the 
rational mind, and restores to health the incor- 
porated union of our country, even from the 
brain fever of party spirit. 

To the sources of dissensions and the con- 
flicts of opinion transmitted from the confede- 
ration, or generated by the organization of the 
new Government, were soon added the conflu- 
ent streams of the French revolution and its 
complication of European Wars. There were 
features in the French revolution closely re- 
sembling our own ; there were points of na- 
tional interest in both countries well adapted 
to harmonize their relations with each other, 
and a sentiment of gratitude rooted in the 
hearts of the American People, by the recent 
remembrance of the benefits derived from the 
alliance with France, and community of cause 
against Britain, engaged all our sympathies in 
favor of the People of France, subverting their 
own Monarchy ; and when her War, first kind- 
led with Austria and Prussia, spread its flames 
to Great Britain, the partialities of resentment 
and hatred, deepening the tide and stimulating 
the current of more kindly and benevolent afl^ec- 
Jions, became so ardent and impetuous that 
there was imminent danger of the country's 
3 



being immediately involved in the War on the 
side of France — a danger greatly aggravated 
by the guaranty to France of her Islands in the 
West Indies. The subject immediately be- 
came a cause of deliberation in the Executive 
Cabinet, and discordant opinions again dis- 
closed themselves between the Secretary of 
State, and the Secretary of the Treasury. 

On the 18th of April, 1793, President Wash- 
ington submitted to his Cabinet thirteen ques- 
tions with regard to the measures to be taken 
by him in consequence of the revolution which 
had overthrown the French monarchy ; of the 
new organization of a republic in that country; 
of the appointment of a minister from that re- 
public to the United Stales, and of the war, 
declared by the National Convention of France 
against Great Britain. The first of these ques- 
tions was, whether a proclamation should issue 
to prevent interferences of the citizens of the 
United Slates in the War? Whether the pro- 
clamation should or should not contain a decla- 
ration of neutrality? The second was whether 
a minister from the republic of France should 
be received. Upon these two questions the 
opinion of the Cabinet was unanimous in the 
affirmative — that a Proclamation of neutrality 
should issue — and that the minister from the 
French Repablic should be received. But up- 
on all the other questions, the opinions of the 
four heads of the Departments were equally 
divided. They were indeed questions of diffi- 
culty and delicacy equal to their importance. 
No less than whether, after a revolution in 
France annihilating the Government with 
which the treaties of alliance and of commerce 
had been contracted, the Treaties themselves 
were to be considered binding as between the 
nations ; and particularly whether the stipula- 
tion of guaranty to France of her possessions 
in the West Indies, wa% binding upon the 
United States to the extent of imposing upon 
them the obligation of faking side with France 
in the War. As the members of the Cabinet 
disagreed in their opinions upon these ques- 
tions, and as there was no immediate necessity 
for deciding them, the further consideration of 
them was postponed, and they were never af- 
terwards resumed. While these discussions 
of the Cabinet of Washington were held, the 
Minister Plenipotentiary from the French re- 
public arrived in this country. He had bsen 
appointed by the National Convention of France 



26 



JAMES MADISON 



which had dethroned, and tried, and sentenced 
to death, and executed Louis the XVIth, abol- 
ished the Monarchy, and proclaimed a republic 
one and indivisible, under the auspices of li- 
berty, equality and fraternity, as thenceforth the 
Government of France. By all the rest of 
Europe, they vfere then considered as revolted 
subjects in rebellion against their Sovereign; 
and were not recognized as constituting an in- 
dependent Government. 

General Hamilton and General Knox were 
of opinion that the Minister from France should 
be conditionally received, with the reservation 
of the question, whether the United States 
were still bound to fulfil the stipulations of the 
Treaties. They inclined to the opinion that 
the Treaties themselves were annulled by the 
revolution of the Government in France — an 
opinion to which the example of the revolu- 
tionary Government had given plausibility by 
declaring some of the Treaties made by the 
abolished Monarchy, no longer binding upon 
the nation. Mr. Hamilton thought also, that 
France had no just claim to the fulfilment of 
the stipulation of guaranty, because that stip- 
ulation, and the whole Treaty of Alliance in 
which it wiis contained were professedly, and 
on the face of them, only defensive, while the 
War which the French Convention had declar- 
ed against Great Britain, was on the part of 
France (>ffensive, the first declaration having 
been issued by her — that the United States 
were at all events absolved from the obligation 
of the guaranty by their inability to perform it, 
and that under the Constitution of the United 
States the interpretation of Treaties, and the 
obligations resulting from them, were within 
the competency of the Executive Department, 
at least concurrently ,^iith the Legislature. It 
does not appear that these opinions were de- 
bated or contested 'in the Cabinet. By their 
unanimous advice the Proclamation was issued, 
and Edmund Charles Genet was received as 
Minister Plenipotentiary of the French Repub- 
lic. Thus the Executive administration did 
assume and exercise the power of recognising 
a revolutionary foreign Government as a legiti- 
mate Sovereign with whom the ordinary diplo- 
matic relations were to be entertained. But 
the Proclamation contained no allusion what- 
ever to the Treaties between the United States 
and France, nor of course to the Article of 
Guaranty or its obligatioDB. 



Whatever doubts may have been entertained 
by a large portion of the people, of the right 
of the Executive to acknowledge a new and 
revolutionary government, not recognized by 
any other Sovereign State, or of the sound po- 
licy of receiving without waiting for the sanc- 
tion of Congress, a minister from a republic 
which had commenced her career by putting 
to death the king whom she had dethroned, and 
which had rushed into war with almost all the 
rest of Europe, no manifestation of such doubts 
was publicly made. A current of popular favor 
sustained the French Revolution, at that stage 
of its progress, which nothing could resist, and 
far from indulging any question of the right of 
the President to recognise a new revolutionary 
government, by receiving from it the creden- 
tials which none but Sovereigns can grant, the 
American People would, at that moment, have 
scarcely endured an instant of hesitation on 
the part of the President, which should have 
delayed for an hour the reception of the minis- 
ter from the Republic of France. But the 
Proclamation enjoining neutrality upon the 
people of the United States, indirectly coun- 
teracted the torrent of partiality in favor of 
France, and was immediately assailed with 
intemperate violence in many of the public 
journals. The right of the Executive to issue 
any Proclamation of neutrality was fiercely 
and pertinaciously denied, as a usurpation of 
Legislative authority, and in that particular 
case it was charged with forestalling and pre- 
maturely deciding the question whether the 
United States were bound, by the guaranty to 
France of her West India possessions in the 
treaty of alliance, to take side in the war with 
her against Great Britain — and with deciding 
it against France. 

Mr. Jefferson had advised the Proclamation ; 
but he had not considered it as deciding the 
question of the guaranty. The government of 
the French Republic had not claimed asd never 
did claim the performance of the guaranty. 
But so strenuously was the right of the Presi- 
dent to issue the Proclamation contested, that 
Mr. Hamilton, the first adviser of the measure, 
deemed it necessary to defend it inoflicially 
before the public. This he did in seven succes- 
sive papers under the signature of Pacificus. 
But in defending the Proclamation, he appears 
to consider it as necessarily involving the 
decision against the obligation of the guaranty, 



jr AME S MADISON 



27 



and maintains the right of the Executive so to 
decide. Mr. Madison, perhaps in some degree 
influenced by the opinions and feelings of his 
long cherished and venerated friend, Jefferson, 
was already harboring suspicions of a formal 
design on the part of Hamilton, and of the 
federal party generally, to convert the govern- 
ment of the United States into a monarchy like 
that of Great Britain, and thought he perceived 
in these papers of Pacificus the assertion of a 
prerogative in the President of the United 
States to engage the nation in war. He there- 
fore entered the lists against Mr. Hamilton in 
the public journals, and in five papers under 
the signature of Helvidius, scrutinized the 
doctrines of Pacificus with an acuteness of 
intellect never perhaps surpassed, and with a 
severity scarcely congenial to his natural dis- 
position, and never on any other occasion 
indulged. Mr. Hamilton did not reply ; nor in 
any of his papers did he notice the animadver- 
sions of Helvidius. But all the Presidents of 
the United States have from that time exercised 
the right of yielding and withholding the re- 
cognition of governments consequent upon 
revolutions, though the example of issuing a 
Proclamation of neutrality has never been 
repeated. The respective powers of the Presi 
dent and Congress of the United States, in the 
case of war with foreign powers, are yet unde- 
termined. Perhaps they can never be defined. 
The Constitution expressly gives to Congress 
the power of declaring war, and that act can of 
course never be performed by the President 
alone. But war is often made without being 
declared. War is a state in which nations are 
placed not alone by their own acts, but by the 
acts of other nations. The declaration of war 
is in its nature a legislative act, but the conduct 
of war is and must be executive. However 
startled we may be at the idea that the Execu- 
tive Chief Magistrate has the power of involv- 
ing the nation in war, efen without consulting 
Congress, an experience of fifty years has 
proved that in numberless cases he has and must 
have exercised the power. In the case which 
gave rise to this controversy, the recognition of 
the French Republic and the reception of her 
minister might have been regarded by the 
allied powers as acts of hostility to them, and 
they did actually interdict all neutral commerce 
with France. Defensive war must necessarily 
be among the duties of the Executive Chief 



Magistrate. The papers of Pacificus and Hel- 
vidius are among the most ingenious and pro- 
found Commentaries on that most important 
part of the Constitution, the distribution of the 
Legislative and Executive powers incident to 
war, and when considered as supplementary to 
the joint labors of Hamilton and Madison in 
the Federalist, they possess a deep and moni- 
tory interest to the American philosophical 
Statesman. The Federalist exhibits the joint 
efforts of two powerful minds in promoting one 
great common object, the adoption of the Con- 
stitution of the United States. The papers 
of Pacificus and Helvidius present the same 
minds, in collision with each other, exerting all 
their energies in conflict upon the construction 
of the same instrument which they had so 
arduously labored to establish ; and it is re- 
markable that upon the points in the papers of 
Pacificus most keenly contested by his adver- 
sary, the most forcible of his arguments are 
pointed with quotations from the papers of the 
Federalist, written by Mr. Hamilton. 

But whether in conjunction with or in oppo- 
sition to each other, the co-operation or the 
encounter of intellects thus exalted and refined, 
controlled by that moderation and humanity, 
which have hitherto characterised the history 
of our Union, cannot but ultimately terminate 
in spreading light and promoting peace among 
men. Happy, thrice happy the people, whose 
political oppositions and conflicts have no 
ultimate appeal but to theirown reason; of whose 
party feuds the only conquests are of argu- 
ment, and whose only triumphs are of the 
mind. Inotherages and in other regions than our 
own, the question of the respective powers of 
the Legislature and of the Executive with re- 
ference to war, might itself have been debated 
in blood, and sent numberless victims to their 
account on the battle-field or the scaffold. So 
it was in the sanguinary annals of the French 
Revolution. So it has been and yet is in the 
successive revolutions of oiir South American 
neighbors. May that merciful Being who has 
hitherto overruled all our diversities of opinion, 
tempered our antagonizing passions, and con- 
ciliated our conflicting interests, still preside in 
all our councils, and in the tempests of our civil 
commotions still ride in the whirlwind and 
direct the storm. 

It was indeed at one of the most turbulent 
and tempestuous periods of human history that 



28 



JAMES MADIS N. 



ihe Constitution of the United States first went 
into operation. It was convulsed not only by 
the convulsions of the old world, but by tumul- 
tuary auitalions of the most alarming character 
and tendency from within. Such were the dan- 
gers and the difficulties with which the Gov- 
ernment of the United States, from the first 
moment of its organization under Washington, 
was beset and surrounded, that they undoubt- 
edly led him to the determination to withdraw 
from the charge and responsibility of presiding 
over it, at as early a period as possible. It was 
with difficulty that he was prevailed upon to 
postpone the execution of this design till the 
expiration of a second term of service; but so 
radically different were the opinions and the 
systems of policy of Washington's two princi- 
pal advisers, especially with reference to the 
external relations of the United Stales, that he 
was unable to retain beyond the limits of the 
first term their united assistance in his Cabinet, j 
In the struggle to maintain the neutrality which i 
he had proclaimed, and in the festering icflam- i 
niaiion of interests and passions, gathering i 
with the progress of the French revolution, he 
coincided more in judgment with the Secretary ( 
of the Treasury, than with the Secretary of! 
State, and they successively retired from their! 
offices, in which each of them had rendered the i 
most important services, and contributed to 
raise the Country and its Government high in 
the estimation of the world, but unfortunately i 
without being able to harmonise, and finally 
even to co-operate with each other. 

Mr. JeSerson's retirement was first in order ; 
it was voluntary, but under circumstances of 
dissatisfaction at the prevalence of the Coun- 
cils of his rival in the Cabinet— and under irri- 
tated prepossessions of a deliberate design, in 
Hamilton, and of all the leading supporters of 
"Washington's administration, to shape the 
Government of the United States into a mon- 
archy like that of Great Britain. This exaspe- 
rated feeling, nourished by the political coa- 
troversy then blazing in all its fury in the war 
between France and the monarchies of Europe, 
gradually became the main spring of the oppo- 
sition to Washington's administration ; an op- 
position which from that time looked to Jefferson 
as their leader and head. This opposition, 
fomented by the unprincipled injustice of both 
the belligerent European powers, and especially 
by the abandoned profligacy of Ihe directorial 



Government of France, continued and increases 
until in the last year of Washington's admin- 
istration, a majority if not of the people of the 
United States, al least of their representatives 
in Congress, were associated with it. Of that 
opposition, Mr. Jefferson was the favored can- 
didate for the succession to the Presidency, and 
by the result of a severely contested election, 
was placed in the chair of the Senate as Vice 
President of the United States. This was the 
efifect of a provision in the Constitution, which 
has since been altered by an amendment. It 
was one of the new experiments in Govern- 
ment, attempted by the Constitution, and had 
then been received with an unusual degree of 
favor, by an anticipated expectation that its 
operation would be to mitigate and conciliate 
party spirit, by causing two persons to be voted 
for, to fill the same ofSce of President, and by 
consoling the unsuccessful candidate and his 
friends with the second office in the Govern- 
inenl of the Union. The test of experience soor 
disabused the fallacious foresight of a benevo- 
lent theory, and disclosed springs of human 
action adverse to the device of placing either a 
political antagonist or coadjutor of the Chief 
Magistrate at the head of the Senate, and as 
contingently his successor. 

The principles of the administration of 
Washington were pursued by his immediate 
successor. The opposition to them was en- 
couraged and fortified by the position of their 
leader in the second seat of power; and the 
Directory of France, wallowing in corruption 
and venality, was preparing the way for their 
j own destruction at home, and setting up to sale 
the peace of their country with other natjonSi, 
and especially with the United States. By their 
i violence and fraud they compelled the Con- 
: gress to annul the existing Treaties between 
j the United States and France, and without ats 
absolute declaration of war, to authorize defen- 
sive hostilities. 

In the controversy with France during this 
period, the executive administration was sus- 
tained by a vast majority of the People of 
the Union, and the elections both of the People 
and of the State Legislatures, returned decided 
majorities in both houses of Congress of cor- 
responding opinions and policy. A powerful 
and inveterate opposition to all the measures 
both of Congress and of the administration was 
however constantly maintained with the coua- 



JAMES MADISON. 



29 



tenance and co-operation of Mr. Jefferson, devoted personally to him, and concurring more 



whose partialities in favor of France and the 
French revolution, though not extending to the 
justification of the secret intrigues and open 
hostilities of the Directory, still counteracted 
the operations of the American Government to 
resist and defeat them. 

The violence and pertinacity of the opposition 
provoked the ruling majority in Congress to the 
adoption of two measures which neither the 
exasperated spirit of the times, nor the delibe- 
rate judgment of after days, could reconcile to 
the temper of the people. I allude to the two 
acts of Congress since generally known by the 
names of the Alien and Sedition Laws. Of 
their merits or demerits this is not the time or 
the place to speak. They passed in Congress 
without vehement opposition, for Mr. Jefferson, 
then holding the office of Vice President of the 
United States, took no acting part against them 
as the presiding officer of the Senate, and Mr. 
Madison, at the close of the administration of 
Washington, had relinquished his seat in the 
House of Representatives of the Union. De- 
voted in friendship to the person, and in policy 
to the views of Mr. Jefferson, he participated 
with deference in his opinions to an extent 
which the deliberate convictions of his own 
judgment sometimes failed to confirm. The 
alien and sedition acts were intended to sup- 
press the intrigues of foreign emissaries, em- 
ployed by the profligate Government of the 
French Directory, and who abused the freedom 
of the press by traducing the characters of the 
administration and its friends, and by instigating 
the resistance of the people against the Gov- 
ernment and the laws of the Union. 

Among the eminent qualities of Mr. Jefferson* 
was a keen, constant, and profound faculty of 
observation with regard to the action and re- 
action of the popular opinion upon the measures 
of government. He perceived immediately the 
operation of the alien and sedition acts, and he 
availed himself of them with equal sagacity 
and ardor for the furtherance of his own views 
of public policy and of personal advancement. 
In opposition to the alien and sedition acts, he 
deemed it advisable to bring into action, so far 
as was practicable, the power of the State 
Legislatures against the government of the 
Union. In the pursuit of this system it was his 
good fortune to obtain the aid and co-operation 
of Mr. Madison and of other friends equally 
3* 



fully in his sentiments, then members of the 
Legislature of Kentucky. Assuming as first 
principles, that by the Constitution of the 
United States Congress possessed no authority 
to restrain in any manner the freedom of the 
press, not even in self-defence against the most 
incendiary defamation, and that the principles 
of the English Common Law were of no force 
under the Government of the United States, he 
drafted, with his own hand, resolutions which 
were adopted by the Legislature of Kentucky, 
declaring that each State had the right to 
judge for itself as well of infractions of the 
common Constitution by the general govern- 
ment, as of the mode and measures of redress 
— that the alien and sedition laws were, in their 
opinion, manifest and palpable violations of the 
Constitution, and therefore null and void — and 
that a nullification by the State Sovereignties of 
all unauthorized acts done under color of the 
Constitution, is the rightful remedy for such in- 
fractions. 

The principles thus assumed, and particularly 
that of remedial nullification by state authority, 
have been more than once re-asserted by parties 
predominating in one or more of the confede- 
rated States, dissatisfied with particular acts of 
the general government. They have twice 
brought the Union itself to the verge of disso- 
lution. To that result it must come, should it 
ever be the misfortuns of the American People 
that they should obtain the support of a suffi- 
cient portion of them to make them effective by 
force. They never have yet been so supported. 
The alien and sedition acts were temporary 
Statutes, and expired by their own limitations. 
No attempt has been made to revive Jhem, bat 
in our most recent times, restrictions far more 
rigorous upon the freedom of the press, of 
speech and of personal liberty, than the alien 
and sedition laws, have not only been deemed 
within the constitutional power of Congress, 
but even recommended by the Chief Magistrate 
of the Union, to encounter the dangers and 
evils of incendiary publications. 

The influence of Mr. Jefferson over the 
mind of Mr. Madison, was composed of all that 
genius, talent, experience, splendid public ser- 
vices, exalted reputation, added to congenial 
tempers, undivided friendship and habitual 
sympathies of interest and of feeling could 
inspire. Among the numerous blessings which 



30 



JAMES MADISON. 



il was the rare good fortune of Mr. Jefferson's 
life to enjoy, was that of the uninterrupted, 
disinterested, and efncient friendship of Madi- 
son. But it was the friendship of a mind not 
inferior in capacity, and tempered with a 
calnoer sensibility and a cooler judgment than 
his own. With regard to the measures of 
Washinfjton's administration, from the time 
when the Councils of Hamilton acquired the 
ascendancy over those of Jefferson, the opinions 
of Mr. Madison generally coincided with those 
of his friend. He had resisted, on Constitu- 
tional grounds, the eslablishment of a National 
Bank — he had proposed, and with all his 
ability had urged important modificatioas of 
the funding system. He had written and pub- 
lished the papers of Helvidius, and he had 
originated measures of commercial regulation 
against Great Britain, instead of which Wash- 
ington had preferred to institute the pacific and 
friendly roission of Mr. Jay. He had disap- 
proved of the treaty concluded by that eminent, 
profound and incorruptible statesman, a mea- 
sure the most rancorously contested of any of 
those of Washington's administration, and upon 
which public opinion has remained divided to 
this day. Mr. Madison concurred entirely with 
Mr. Jefferson in the policy of neutrality to the 
European wars, but with a strong leaning of 
favor to France and her revolution, which it 
was then impossible to hold without a lean- 
ing approaching to hostility against Great 
Britain, her policy and her Government. Mr. 
Madison therefore, at the earnest solicita- 
tion of Mr. Jefferson, introduced into the Le- 
gislature of Virginia the resolutions adopted 
on the 21st of December, 1798, declarinor l. 
That the Constitution of the United States 
was a compact, to which the Slates were par- 
ties, granting limited powers of Government. 
2. That in case of a deliberate, palpable and 
dangerous exercise of other powers, notgranted 
by the compact, the States had the right to, and 
were in duty bound to interpose, for arresting 
the progress of the evils and for maintaining 
within their respective limits the authorities, 
rights and liberties appertaining to them. 3. 
That the alien and sedition acts were palpable 
and alarming infractions of the Constitution. 
4. That the State of Virginia, having by its 
Convention which ratified the federal Consti- 
tution, expressly declared that among other 
essential rights the liberty of conscience and 



the press cannot be cancelled, abridged, re, 
strained, or modified by any authority of the 
United States, and from its extreme anxiety to 
guard these rights from every possible attack 
of sophistry and ambition, having with the 
other States recommended an amendment for 
that purpose, which amendment was in da& 
time annexed to the Constitution, it would 
mark a reproachful inconsistency and criminal 
degeneracy if an indifference were now shown 
to the most palpable violation of one of the 
rights thus declared and secured, and to the 
establishment of a precedent which might be 
fatal to the other. 5. That the Slate of Virginia 
declared the alien and sedition laws unconsti- 
tutiomal — solemnly appealed to the like dis- 
positions in the other States, in confidence that 
they would concur with her in that declaration^ 
and that the necessary and proper measures 
would be taken by each, for co-operating with 
her, in maintaining unimpaired the authoritiesp 
rights and liberties reserved to the States 
respectively, or to the People. 6. That the 
Governor should be desired to transmit a copy 
of these resolutions to the Executive authority 
of each of the other States, with a request thai 
they should be communicated to the respective 
State Legislatures, and that a copy should be 
furnished to each of the Senators and Represen- 
tatives of Virginia in Congress. 

The resolutions did but in part carry intc? 
effect the principles and purposes of Mr. Jeffer- 
son. His original intention was thai the alien 
and sedition acts should be declared by the 
State Legislatures, null and void — and that 
with the declaration that nulUJication, by there; 
was the rightful remedy for such usurpations 
of power by the federal Government, commit- 
tees of correspondence and co-operation should 
be appointed by the Legislatures of the States 
concurring in the resolutions, for consultation 
with regard to further measures. Before the 
adoption of the Virginia resolutions, the Legis- 
lature of Kentucky had adopted others drafted 
by Mr. Jefferson himself and introduced by two 
of his friends in that body. In those resolu- 
tions, the doctrines of nullification by the State 
Legislatures of acts of Congress, deemed 
by them unconstitutional, was first explicit- 
ly and unequivocally asserted. But even in 
Kentucky the Legislature was not quite pre- 
pared for consultation upon further measures of 
co-operation by committees cf correspondence. 



JAMES MADISON 



M 



The Virginia Resolutions were transmitted 
to the other Stales, with an address to the 
people in support of them, written by Mr. Ma- 
dison. They were strongly disapproved by 
resolutions of all the Legislatures of the New 
England States, and by those of New York 
and Delaware. They were not, nor were those 
of the Legislature of Kentucky concurred in 
by any other State Legislature of the Union, but 
they contributed greatly to increase the unpopu- 
larity of the measures which thej' denounced, 
and sharpened the edge of every weapon 
wielded against the administration of the 
time. 

At the succeeding sessions of the Legisla- 
tures of Kentucky and of Virginia, they took 
into consideration the answers of the Legisla- 
tures of the other States to their resolutions of 
1798. The reply of Kentucky was in the form 
of a resolution re-asserting the right of the 
separate States to judge of infractions, by the 
Government of the Union, of the Constitution 
of the United States, and expressly affirming 
that a nullification by the State Sovereignties 
of all unauthorized acts done under color of 
that instrument, was the rightful remedy ; and 
complaining of the doctrines and principles at- 
tempted to be maintained in all the answers, 
that of Virginia only excepted. 

In the Legislature of Virginia, a long, most 
able and elaborate report was written by Mr. 
Madison, in reply to the answers received from 
the other States, and concluded with the fol- 
lowing resolution: 

"That the General Assembly, having care- 
fully and respectfully attended to the proceed- 
ings of a number of the States, in answer to 
the resolutions of December 21, 1798, and hav- 
ing accurately and fully re-examined and re- 
considered the latter, find it to be their indis- 
pensable duty to adhere to the same, as founded 
in truth, as consonant with the Constitution, 
and as conducive to its preservation; and more 
especially to be their duty to renew as they do 
hereby renew their protest against the alien and 
sedition acts, as palpable and alarming infrac- 
tions of the Constitution." 

The report and resolution were adopted by 
the Legislature in February, 1800. The alien 
law expired by its own limitation, on the 25th 
of June of that year, and the sedition act on the 
4th of March, 1801. 

The proceedings of the Legislatures of Ken- 



tucky and Virginia relating to the alien an<J 
sedition acts, gave to them an importance far 
beyond that which naturally belonged to them. 
The acts themselves, and the resolutions of ths 
Legislatures concerning them, may now be 
considered merely as adversary party mea- 
sures. 

The agency of Mr. JefTerson in originating 
the measures of both the State Legislatures 
was at the time profoundly secret. It has 
been made known only since his decease, but in 
estimating the weight of the objections againsJ 
the two laws on sound principles as well of 
morals as of politics, the fact as welt as the 
manner of that agency are observable. The 
situation which he then held, and that to which 
he ascended by its operation, are considerations 
not to be overlooked in fixing the deliberate 
judgment of posterity upon the whole transac- 
tion. Mr. Madison's motives for the part 
which he acted in the drama, are not liable to 
the same scrutiny ; nor did his public station 
at the time, nor the principles which he assert- 
ed in the management of the controversy, nor 
the measures which he proposed, recommended 
and accomplished, subject his posthumous re- 
putation and character to the same animadver- 
sions. Standing here as the sincere and faithfuH 
organ of the sentiments of my fellow citizens 
to honor a great and illustrious benefactor of 
his country, it would be as foreign from the 
honest and deliberate judgment of my soul as 
from the sense of my duties on this occasion to 
profess my assent to the reasoning of his report, 
or my acquiescence in the application of its 
unquestionable principles to the two acts of 
Congressional legislation which it arraigns. 
That because the States of this Union, as \vel3 
as their people, are parlies to the Constitutional 
compact of the federal Government, therefore 
the State Legislatures have the right to 
judge of infractions of the Constitution by the 
organized Government of the whole, and to de- 
clare acts of Congress unconstitutional, is as 
abhorrent to the conclusions of my judgmeni 
as to the feelings of my heart — but holding the 
converse of those propositions with a convic- 
tion as firm as an article of religious faith, 1 toD 
clearly see toadmit of denial, that minds of the 
highest order of intellect, and hearts of the 
purest integrity of purpose, have been brought 
to different conclusions. If Jefferson and Ma&i- 
SON deemed the alien and sedition acts plain and 



32 



JAMES MADISON, 



palpable infractions of the Constitution, Waah- 
ington and Patrick Henry held them to be good 
and wholesome laws. These opinions were 
perhaps all formed under excitements and pre- 
possessions which detract from the weight of 
the highest authority. The alien act was 
passed under feelings of honest indignation at 
theaudacity with which foreign emissaries were 
practising within the bosom of the country 
upon the passions of the people against their 
own Government. The sedition act was in- 
tended as a curb upon the publication of mali- 
cious and incendiary slander upon the President 
or the two Houses of Congress, or either of 
them. But they were restrictive upon the per- 
sonal liberty of foreign emissaries, and upon 
the political licentiousness of the press. The 
alien act produced its effect by its mere enact- 
ment, in Ihe departure from the country of the 
most obnoxious foreigners, and the power con- 
ferred by it upon iho President was never exer- 
cised. The prosecutions under the sedition act' 
did but aggravate the evil which they were in- 
tended to repress. Without believing that 
either of those laws was an infraction of ihe 
Constitution, it may be admitted without dis- 
paragement to the authority of Washington and 
Henry, cr of the Congress which passed the 
acts, that they were not good and wholesome 
laws, inasmuch as they were not suited to the 
temyrer of the people. 

Emergencies may arise in which the authority 
of Congress will be invoked by the portion of 
the people most aggrieved by the alien and 
sedition acts, for arbitrary expulsion of foreign 
incendiaries, and for the suppression of incen- 
diary publications at home, by measures far 
more rigorous and more palpably violative of 
the Constitution than those laws, and if the 
temper of that portion of the people which 
approved //lew, shall be, as it has recently been, 
and perhaps still is, attuned to endure the experi- 
ment, the Constitutional authority of Congress 
will be found amply sufficient for the enactment 
of statutes far more sharp and biting than they [ 
were. The question with regard to the consti- 
tutionality of those laws is however far different , 
from that of the manner in which they were j 
resisted. In that originated the doctrine of 
nullijication. 

In this respect there appears to have been a 
very material difference between the opinions 
and purposes of Mr. Jefferson and Mr. Madi- 



son. Concurring in the doctrine that the sepa- 
rate States have the right to interpose, in case 
of palpable infractions of the Constitution by 
the Government of the United States, and that 
the alien and sedition acts presented a case of 
such infraction, Mr. Jefferson considered them 
as absolutely null and void, and thought the 
State Legislatures competent not only to de- 
clare, but to make them so; to resist their 
execution within their respective borders by 
physical force; and to secede and separate 
from the Union, rather than submit to them, if 
attempted to be carried into execution by force. 
To these doctrines Mr. M&dison did not sub- 
scribe. He disclaimed them in the most explicit 
manner, at a very late period of his life, and in 
his last and most matured sentiments with 
regard to those laws, he considered them rather 
as unadvised acts, passed in contravention to 
the opinions and feelings of the community, 
than as more unconstitutional than many other 
acts of Congress which have generally accord- 
ed with the views of a majority of the States 
and of the people. 

Upon the change of the administration by 
the election of Mr. Jefferson as President of the 
United States in 1801, a new career was opened 
to the talents and wisdom of his friend, who 
thenceforth became his first assistant and his 
most confidential adviser in the administration 
of the Government. 

That administration was destined to pass 
through ordeals scarcely less severe than those 
which had tested the efficiency of the Constitu- 
tion of the United States under the Presidency 
of his predecessors. 

By a singular concurrence of good fortune, 
Mr. Jefferson waa immediately after his acces- 
sion relieved from the pressure of all the impor- 
tant difficulties and menacing dangers which 
had so heavily weighed upon the administra- 
tion of both his predecessors. The differences 
between them both and the United States, 
which had during the twelve years of those 
administrations kept the nation without inter- 
mission in the most imminen.t dangers of war, 
first with Great Britain, and afterwards with 
France, had all been adjusted by Treaties with 
both those nations. The revolutionary vio- 
lence of Republican France had already sub- 
sided into a military Government. Still re- 
taining the name of a republic, but rapidly 
ripening into a hereditary monarchy. The wars 



JAMES MADISON. 



33 



in Europe themselves were about to cease, for 
a short period indeed, and soon to blaze out 
with renewed and aggravated fury, but upon 
questions of mere conquest and aggrandize- 
ment betvreen the belligerent powers. In the 
same year with the inauguration of Mr. Jeffer- 
son, the peace of Amiens had replaced France 
at the head of continental Europe, leaving 
Great Britain in the uncontested, if not undis- 
puted dominion of the sea. 

The expenditures for the army and navy, 
already much reduced by the reduction of the 
former to a small peace establishment, admitted 
of further retrenchments, and the very ques- 
tionable policy of reducing also the latter, 
allowed a corresponding reduction of taxation, 
which gave the new administration the popular 
attraction of professed retrenchment and reform. 
For the naval armaments which the sharp 
collisions with both the belligerent nations had 
rendered necessary, although they had nobly 
sustained the glory of valor and skill upon the 
ocean acquired during the revolutionary war, 
and were destined to deeds of yet more exalted 
fame in the administration of his successor, had 
necessarily occasioned heavy expense — had 
been among the measures most severely cen- 
sured by Mr. Jefferson, and were among his 
most favorite objects of reform. Reformed they 
accordingly were, and dry-docks and gun-boats 
became for a time the cheap defences of the 
nation. The gallant spirit of the navy was 
itself discounienanced and discouraged, till a 
Tripolitan Cruiser, captured after a desperate 
battle, was not even taken into possession, 
upon a scruple of the victor's instructions 
whether self-defence could give a right to 
the fruits of victory, without a declaration of 
v;ar by Congress. 

The reduction of the navy, while it lasted, 
deeply injurious both to the honor and the 
interests of the nation, gave however to the 
incipient administration the credit of reduced 
expenditures, retrenchment and reform: such 
•was its first effect at home. Abroad its first 
fruit was the contempt of the Barbary powers 
— insult, outrage and war — a new armament, 
and new taxation under the denomination of a 
Mediterranean fund, took the place of retrench- 
ment; and when the smothered flames of war 
burst forth anew between France and Britain, 
the impressment of our seamen. Orders in 
Council, Paper Blockades, Decrees of Berlin, 



of Milan, of Rambouillet, and finally the mur- 
der of our mariners within our own waters, and 
the wanton and savage attack upon the frigate 
Chesapeake, proved in the degradation of our 
national reputation, and in the cowering of 
that undaunted spirit which rides upon the, 
mountain wave, the shoit-sightedness of thai 
policy, which trusted to gun-boats and drj' 
docks for the defence of the country upon the 
world of waters, and which had crippled the 
naval arm, and tamed the gallant spirit of the- 
Union, for the glory of retrenchment and re- 
form. 

On the other hand, the renewal of the Earo- 
pean war, and the partialities of Mr. Jefferson 
in favor of France, enabled him to accomplish 
an object which greatly enlarged the terriJories 
of the Union — which removed a most fornaida- 
ble source of future dissensions with France— 
which exceedingly strengthened the relatsve 
influence and power of the State and section of 
tho Union, to which he himself belonged, an^ 
which in its consequences changed the charac- 
ter of the Confederacy itself. This operationo 
by far the greatest that has been aeeomplished 
by any administration under the Constitution, 
was consummated at the price of fifteen mil- 
lions of dollars in money, and of a direct, anqua- 
lifted, admitted violation of the Constitution of 
the United States. According to the theory of 
Mr. Jefferson, as applied by him to the alien 
and sedition acts, it was absolutely null and 
void. It might have been nullified by the 
Legislature of any one State in the Union, and 
if persisted in, would have warranted and jus- 
tified a combination of States, and their se- 
cession from the confederacy in resistance 
against it. 

That an amendment to the Constitution was 
necessary to legalize the annexation of Lou- 
isiana to the Union, was the opinion both o5 
Mr. Jefferson and of Mr. Madison. They 
finally acquiesced however in the latitudinous 
construction of that instrument, which holds 
the treaty-making powers, together wiih an acS 
of Congress, sufficient for this operation. It 
was accordingly thus consummated by Mr. 
Jefferson, and has been sanctioned by the ac- 
quiescence of the people. Upwards of thirty 
years have passed away since this great change 
was effected. By a subsequent Treaty with 
Spain, by virtue of the same powers and autho- 
rity, the Floridas have been annexed also to 



3« 



JAMES MADISON 



the Union, and the boundaries of the United 
Stales have been extended from the Mississippi 
to the Pacific ocean. There is now nothing in 
the Constitution of the United States to inhibit 
their extension to the two polar circles from the 
Straits of Hudson to the Straits of Magellan. 
Whether this very capacity of enlargement of 
territory and multiplication of States by the 
constructive power of Congress, without check 
or control either by the States or by their 
people, will not finally terminate in the disso- 
lution of the Union itself, time alone can deter- 
mine. The credit of the acquisition of Loui- 
siana, whether to be considered as a source of 
good or of evil, is perhaps due to Robert R. 
Livingston more than to any other man, but 
the merit of its accomplishment must ever re- 
main as the great and imperishable memorial 
of the administration of Jefferson. 

In the interval between the Peace of Amiens, 
and the renewal of the wars of France with the 
rest of Europe, the grasping spirit and gigantic 
genius of Napoleon had been revolving pro- 
jects of personal aggrandizement and of nation- 
al ambition of which this western hemisphere 
was to be the scene. He had extorted from the 
languishing and nerveless dynasty of the Bour- 
bons in Spain the retrocession of the Province 
of Louisiana, with a description of boundary 
sufiicienlly indefinite, to raise questions of 
limits whenever it might suit his purpose to 
settle them by the intimation of his will. Here 
it had been his purpose to establish a military 
Colony, with the Mexican dominions of Spain 
on one side, and the United States of America 
and the continental colonies of Great Britain on 
the other, in the centre of the western hemis- 
phere, the stand for a lever to wield at his 
pleasure the destinies of the world. This plan 
was discomposed by a petty squabble with 
Great Britain about the Island of Malta; and 
a "project wilder if possible than his military 
Colony of Louisiana — namely the Cajsarian 
operation of conquering the British Islands 
themselves by direct invasion. The transfer 
of Louisiana had been stipulated by a secret 
treaty, but possession had not been taken. Mr. 
Livingston was then the Minister of the United 
States in France. He had been made acquaint- 
ed with the existence of the Treaty of retroces- 
sion of Louisiana, and by a memorial of great 
ability, had expostulated against it, urging as 
scarcely less essential to the interests of 



France than of the United States, that the 
Province should be ceded to them. This me- 
morial when presented had met with little at- 
tention from Napoleon. His military Colony 
of twenty thousand men was on the point of 
embarkation, under the command of one of his 
Lieutenants, destined himself in after time to 
wear the crown of Gustavus-Adolphus, when 
the Iron Crown of Lombardy and the imperial 
crown of France, after encircling the brows of 
Napoleon, should have melted before the leadeii 
sceptre of the restored Bourbons. Napoleon 
was to rise to the summit of human greatness, 
and to fall from it over another precipice, than 
that to which he was approaching with his 
military colony of Louisiana. When he de- 
termined to renew the war with England, still 
mistress of the seas, he could no longer risk 
the fortunes of his soldiers in a passage across 
the Atlantic, and unable as he was to cope 
with the thunders of Britain upon the ocean, 
he saw that Louisiana itself, if he should take 
possession of the Province, must inevitably 
fall an easy prey to the enemy with whom he 
was to contend. He therefore abandoned his 
project of conquests in America, and determined 
at once to sell his Colony of Louisiana to the 
United States. 

Never in the fortunes of mankind was there 
a more sudden, complete and propitious turn in 
the tide of events than this change in the pur- 
poses of Napoleon proved to the administration 
of Mr, Jefferson. The wrangling altercation 
with Spain for the navigation of the Mississip- 
pi, had been adjusted during the administration 
of Washington, by a treaty, which had con- 
ceded to them the right, and stipulated to make 
its enjoyment effective, of deposit at New Or- 
leans. In repurchasing from Spain the Colony of 
Louisiana, Napoleon, to disincumber himself 
from the burden of this stipulation, and to hold 
in his hand a rod over the western section of 
this Union, had compelled the dastardly and 
imbecile monarch of Spain to commit an act of 
perfidy, by withdrawing from the people of the 
United States this stipulated right of deposit 
before delivering the possession of the Colony 
to France. The great artery of the commerce 
of the Union was thus choaked in its circula- 
tion. The sentiment of surprise, of alarm, of 
indignation, was instantaneous and universal 
among the people. The hardy and enterprising 
settlers of the western country could hardly 



JAMES MADISON 



35 



be restrained from pouring down the swelling 
floods of their population, to take possession of 
New Orleans itself, by the immediate exercise 
of the rights of war. A war with Spain must 
have been immediately followed by a war with 
France, which, however just the cause of the 
United States would have been, must necessa- 
rily give a direction to public affairs adverse to 
the whole system of Mr. Jefferson's policy, and 
in all probability prove fatal to the success of 
his administration. Instigations to immediate 
war, were at once attempted in Congress, and 
were strongly countenanced by the excited 
temper of the people. Mr. Jefferson instituted 
an extraordinary mission both to France and 
Spain, to remonstrate against the withdrawal of 
the right of deposit, and to propose anew the 
purchase of the Island of New Orleans. By 
one of those coincidences in the course of hu- 



dence that withstand adversity, or the modera- 
tion which adorns and dignifies prosperity, it 
is not less essential to the character of an ac- 
complished ruler of men. 

But Napoleon had transferred the acquisi- 
tion which he had wrenched from the nerve- 
less hand of Spain with its indefinite and 
equivocal boundary. He had also violated his 
faith, pledged to Spain when he took back the 
Province, once the Colony of France, that he 
would never cede it to the United States. 
Spain immediately complained, remonstrated, 
protested against the cession, the just reward 
of her own perfidy, in withdrawing the stipu- 
lated right of deposit at New Orleans ; and 
although Napoleon soon silenced her com- 
plaints, and constrained her to withdraw her 
protest against the cession, yet on the question 
of boundary, he had contracted his province of 



man events, too rare to be numbered among the Louisiana almost within the dimensions of the 



ordinary dispensations of Providence ; too com 
raon to be accountable upon the doctrine of 
unregulated chance, when Mr. Jefferson's min- 
ister arrived at the seal of his first destination, 
his charge, and much more than his charge, 
was already performed. Napoleon had resolved 
to sell to the United States the whole of Loui- 
siana, and Great Britain, under the influence of 
fears and jealousies of him, even deeper than 
those with which she pined at every prosperity 
of her alienated child, had declared her acqui- 
escence in the transfer. The American nego- 
ciators without hesitation transcended their 
powers, to obtain all Louisiana instead of Flo- 
rida. Claims of indemnity to the citizens of 
the United States, for wrongs suffered from the 
precedingrevolutionary Govtrnments of France, 
were provided for by a separate Convention, 
and paid for with part of the purchase money 
for the Province, and the whole remnant of the 
fifteen millions was, in the midst of a raging 
war, with the knowledge and assent of the 
British Government, furnished by English 
Bankers to be expended in preparations for the 
conquest of England by invasion. 

It will be no detraction from the merits or 
services of Mr. Jefferson, or of his Secretary of 
State, to acknowledge that in all this transac- 
tion Fortune claims to herself the lion's share. 
To seize and turn to profit the precise instant 
of the turning tide, is itself among the eminent 
properties of a Statesman, and if requiring 



Island of New Orleans. Negotiations with Spain 
and France, soon complicated with the sharper 
collisions of neutral and belligerent rights, 
and with the war of extermination between 
France and Britain, called for all the talents 
and all the energies of the President, and of his 
friend and Minister in the Department of State. 
The discussions respecting the boundaries of 
Louisiana were soon brought to a close. Spain 
contested the claims of the United States, both 
east and west of the Mississippi. The United 
States, after an ineffectual attempt to obtain the 
Floridas from Spain, agreed to leave both the 
questions of boundary to the decision of France, 
and Napoleon instantly decided it on both 
sides of the Mississippi against them. 

In the first wars of the French revolution Great 
Britain had begun by straining the claim of 
belligerent, as against neutral rights, beyond 
all the theories of international jurisprudence, 
and even beyond her own ordinary practice. 
There is in all war a conflict between the bel- 
ligerent and the neutral right, which can in its 
nature be settled only by convention. And in 
addition to all the ordinary asperities of dis- 
sension between the nation at war and the na- 
tion at peace, she had asserted a right of man- 
stealing from the vessels of the United States. 
The claim of right was to take by force all 
sea-faring men, her own subjects, wherever 
they were found by her naval officers, to serve 
their king in his wars. And under color of this 



less elevated virtue than the firmness and pru- 1 tyrant's right, her naval officers, down to the 



86 



J AMES MABieON. 



most beardless Midshipman, actually took from 
the American merchant vessels which tliey 
vEsited, any seaman whom they chose to take 
for 'a British subject. After the Treaty of 
November, 1794, she had relaxed all her pre- 
tensions against the neatral rights, and had 
gradually abandoned the practice of impress- 
ment till she was on the point of renouncing it 
by a formal Treaty stipulation. At the renewal 
of the war, after the Peace of Amiens, it was 
at first urged with much respect for the rights 
of neutrality, but the practice of impressment 
was soon renewed with aggravated severity, 
and the commerce of neutral nations with the 
Colonies of the adverse belligerent was wholly 
interdicted on the pretence of justification, be- 
cause it hsd been forbidden by the enemy her- 
self in time of peace. This pretension had been 
first raised by Great Britain in the seven years' 
war, but she had been overawed by the armed 
neutrality from maintaining it in the war of the 
American revolution. In the midst of this war 
with Napoleon, she suddenly reasserted the 
principle, and by a secret order in Council, 
swept the ocean of nearly the whole mass of 
neutral commerce. Her war with France spread 
itself all over Europe, successively involving 
Spain, Italy, the Netherlands, Prussia, Aus- 
tria, Russia, Denmark and Sweden. Not a 
single neutral power remained in Europe — and 
Great Britain, after annihilating at Trafalgar 
f.he united naval power of France and Spain, 
ruling thenceforth with undisputed dominion 
upon the ocean, conceived the project of en- 
grossing even the commerce with her enemy 
by intercepting all neutral navigation. These 
measures were met by corresponding acts of 
violence, and sophistical principles nf National 
Law, promulgated by Napoleon, rising to the 
summit of his greatness, and preparing his 
downfall by the abuse of his elevation. Through 
this fiery ordeal the administration of Mr. Jef- 
ferson was to pass, and the severest of i's tests 
were to be applied to Mr. Madison. His cor- 
respondence with the ministers of Great Bri- 
tain, France and Spain, and with the minis- 
ters of tlie United States to those nations during 
the remainder of Mr. Jefi'erson's administra- 
tion, constitute the most important and most 
valuable materials of its history. His examina- 
tion of the British doctrines relating to neutral 
trade, will hereafter be considered a standard 
Treatise on the Law of Nations; not inferior to 



the works of any writer upon those subjects 
since the days of Grotius, and every way wor- 
thy of the author of Publius and of Helvidius. 
There is indeed, in all the diplomatic papers 
of American Statesmen, justly celebrated as 
they have been, nothing superior to this Dis- 
sertation, which was not strictly official. It 
was composed amidst the duties of the Depart- 
ment of State, never more arduous than at that 
time — in the summer of 1806. It was published 
inofficially, and a copy of it was laid on the 
table of each member of Congress at the com- 
mencement of the session in December, 1806. 
The controversies of conflicting neutral and 
belligerent rights, continued through the whole 
of Mr. JeflTerson's administration, during the 
latter part of which they were verging rapidly 
to war. He had carried the policy of peace 
perhaps to an extreme. His system of defence 
by commercial restrictions, dry-docks, gun- 
boats and embargoes, was stretched to its last 
hair's breadth of endurance. Far be it from me, 
my fellow citizens, to speak of this system oi 
of its motives with disrespect. If there be a 
duty, binding in chains more adamantine than 
all the rest the conscience of a Chief Magis- 
trate of this Union, it is that of preserving 
peace with all mankind — peace with the other 
nations of the earth — peace among the several 
States of this Union — peace in the hearts and 
temper of our own people. Yet must a Presi- 
dent (if the United States never cease to feel 
that his charge is to maintain the rights, the 
interests and the honor no less than the peace 
of his country — nor will he be permitted to for- 
get that peace must be the ofTspring of two con- 
curring wills. That to seek peace is not always 
to ensure it. He must remember too, that a 
reliance upon the operation of measures, from 
their eflfect on the interests, however clear and 
unequivocal of nations, cannot be safe against 
a counter current of their passions. That na- 
tions, like individuals, sacrifice their peace to 
their pride, to their hatred, to their envy, to 
their jealousy, and even to the craft, which the 
cunning of hackneyed politicians not unfre- 
quently mistakes for policy. That nations, like 
individuals, have sometimes the misfortune of 
losing their senses, and that lunatic communi- 
ties, which cannot be confined in hospitals, 
must be resisted in arms, as a single maniac is 
sometimes restored to reason by the scourge. 
That national madness is infectious, and that a 



JAMES MADISON, 



37 



paroxysm of it in one people, especially when 
generated by the Furies that preside over war, 
produces a counter paroxysm in their adverse 
party. Such is the melancholy condition as 
yet of associated man. And while in the wise 
but mysterious dispensations of an overruling 
Providence, man shall so continue, the peace 
of every nation must depend not alone upon its 
own will, but upon that concurrently with the 
will of all others. 

And such was the condition of the two 
mightiest nations of the earth during the ad- 
ministration of Mr. Jefferson. Frantic, in fits 
of mutual hatred, envy and jealousy against 
each other; meditating mutual invasion and 
conquest, and forcing the other nations of the 
four quarters of the globe to the alternative of 
joining them as allies or encountering them as 
foes. Mr. Jefferson met them with moral phi- 
losophy and commercial restrictions, with dry- 
docks and gun-boats — with non-intercourses, 
and embargoes, till the American nation were 
told that they could not be kicked into a war, 
and till they were taunted by a British States- 
man in the Imperial Parliament of England, 
with their five fir frigates and their striped 
bunting. 

Mr. Jefferson pursued his policy of peace till 
it brought the nation to the borders of internal 
war. An embargo of fourteen months duration 
was at last reluctantly abandoned by him, 
when it had ceased to be obeyed by the people, 
and State Courts were ready to pronounce it 
unconstitutional. A non-intercourse was then 
substituted in its place, and the helm of State 
passed from the hands of Mr. Jefferson to those 
of Mr. Madison, precisely at the moment of 
this perturbation of earth and sea, threatened 
with war from abroad and at home, but with 
the principle definitively settled that in our in- 
tercourse with foreign nations, reason, justice 
and commercial restrictions require live oak 
hearts and iron or brazen mouths to speak, that 
they may be distinctly heard, or attentively 
listened to, by the distant ear of foreigners, 
whether French or British, monarchical or re- 
publican. 

The administration of Mr. Madison was 
with regard to its most essential principles, a 
continuation of that of Mr. Jefferson. He too 
was the friend of peace, and earnestly desirous 
of maintaining it. As a last resource for the 
preservation of it, an act of Congress prohibited 
4 



all commercial intercourse with both bellige- 
rents, the prohibition to be withdrawn from 
either or both in the event of a repeal by either 
of the orders and decrees in violation of neutral 
rights. France ungraciously and equivocally 
withdrew her's. Britain refused, hesitated, and 
at last conditionally withdrew her's when it 
was too late — after a formal declaration of war 
had been issued by Congress at the recommen^ 
dation of President Madison himself. 

Of the necessity, the policy or even the jus- 
tice of this war, there are conflicting opinions, 
not yet, perhaps never to be, harmonized. This 
is not the time or the place to discuss ihem. 
The passions, the prejudices and the partiali- 
ties of that day have passed away. That it was 
emphatically a popular war, having reference 
to the whole people of the United States, will, 
I think, not be denied. That it was in a high 
degree unpopular in our own section of the Union, 
is no doubt equally true; and that it was so, 
constituted the greatest difficulties and prepared 
the most mortifying disasters in its prosecution. 

The war itself was an ordeal through which 
the Constitution of the United States, as the 
Government of a great nation, was to pass. Its 
trial in that respect was short but severe. In 
the intention of its founders, and particularly 
of Mr. Madison, it was a Constitution essen- 
tially pacific in its character, and for a nation 
above all others, the lover of peace — yet its 
great and most vigorous energies, and all its 
most formidable powers, are reserved for the 
state of war — and wai is the condition in which 
the functions allotted to the separate States 
sink into impotence compared with those of the 
general Government. 

The war was brought to a close without any 
definitive adjustnaent of the controverted princi- 
ples in which it had oiiginated. It left the 
questions of neutral commerce with an enemy 
and his colonies, of bottom and cargo, of block- 
ade and contraband of war, and even of im- 
pressment, precisely as they had been be- 
fore the war. With the European war all 
the conflicts between belligerent and neu- 
tral rights had ceased. Great Britain, trium- 
phant as she was after a struggle of more than 
twenty years' duration— against revolutionary, 
republican and imperial France, was in no 
temper to yield the principles for which i;i the 
heat of her contest she had defied the power of 
neutrality and the voice of justice. As little 



38 



JAMES MADISON. 



were the Government or people of the United 
States disposed to yield principles, upon which, 
if there had been any error in their previous 
intercourse with the belligerent powers, it was 
that of faltering for the preservation of peace, 
in the defence of the rights of neutrality, and 
of conceding too much to the lawless preten- 
sions of naval war. 

The extreme solicitude of the American Go- 
vernment for the perpetuity of peace, especial- 
ly with Great Britain, induced Mr. Madison to 
institute with her negotiations after the peace of 
Ghent, for the adjustment of all these ques- 
tions of maritime collisions between the war- 
like and the pacific nation. The claims of 
neutral right are all founded upon the precepts 
of Christianity and the natural rights of man. 
The warring party's claim is founded upon the 
immemorial usages of war, untempered and 
unmitigated by the chastening spirit of Chris- 
tianity. They all rest upon the right of force— 
or upon what has been termed the ultimate ar- 
gument of kings. But since the whole Island 
of Albion has been united under one Govern- 
ment, her foreign wars have necessarily all 
been upon or beyond the seas. Her consoli- 
dation and her freedom have made her the first 
of Maritime States, and the first of humane, 
learned, intelligent, but warlike nations ot mo- 
dern days. At home, she is generous, benefi- 
cent, tender-hearted, and above all proud of her 
liberty and loyalty united as in one. Free as 
the air upon her mountains, she tyrannizes over 
one class of her people, and that the very class 
upon which she depends for the support of her 
freedom. She proclaims that the foot, be it of a 
slave, by alighting on her soil, emancipates 
the man ; and as if it were the exclusive right 
of her soil, the foot of her own mariner, by 
passing from it upon the deck of a ship, slips 
into the fetters of a slave. There is no writ of 
Habeas Corpus for a British sailor. The stimu- 
lant to his love of his king and country is the 
Press Gang. 

This glaring inconsistency with the first 
principles of the British Censtitution, is justi- 
fied on the plea of necessity, which being above 
all law, claims equal exemption from respon- 
sibility to the tribunal of reason. The efforts 
of Mr. Madison and of his successors to obtain 
an amicable adjustment of this great source of 
hostility between the kindred nations have 
hitherto proved equally unavailing. One short 



interval has occurred since the peace, during 
which a war broke out between France and 
Spain, to which Britain was neutral, and the 
views of her ruling Statesmen were then favo- 
rable to the rights of neutrality. Had that war 
been of longer continuance, the prospects of a 
mitigation of the customs of maritime warfare 
might have been more propitious ; but we can 
now only indulge the hope that the glory of ex- 
tinguishing the flame of war by land and sea is 
reserved for the future destinies of our confede- 
rated land. 

The peace with Great Britain was succeeded 
by a short war with Algiers, in which the first 
example was set of a peace with that piratical 
power purchased by chastisement substituted 
for tribute — and which set the last seal to the 
policy of maintaining the rights and interests 
of the United States by a permanent naval 
force. 

The revolutions in Spain, and in her Colo- 
nies of this hemisphere, complicated with 
qaesti*ns of disputed boundaries, and with 
claims of indemnity for depredations upon our 
commerce, formed subjects for important nego- 
tiations during the war with Great Britain, and 
after its close. Never, since the institution of 
civil society, have there been within so short a 
time so many assumptions of sovereign pow- 
ers. The crown of Spain was abdicated by 
Charles the Fourth, and then by his son Ferdi- 
nand, while a prisoner to Napoleon, at Bay- 
onne, transferred to the house of Buonaparte, 
as the kingdom of Naples had been by con- 
quest before. In Germany, the dissolution of 
the German empire had generated a king- 
dom of Westphalia, and converted into king- 
doms the electorates of Saxony, of Bavaria, of 
Wirtemburg and of Hanover. The kingdom of 
Portugal had been overshadowed by an empire 
of Brazil, and every petty province of Spain in 
this hemisphere, down to the Floridas and 
Amelia Island, constituted themselves into so- 
vereign States, unfurled their flags and claimed 
their seats among the potentates of the earth. 
Under these circumstances, it became often a 
question of great delicacy, who should be recog- 
nized as such, and with whom an exchange of 
diplomatic functionaries should be made. There 
was, during Mr. Madison's administration, a 
period during which war was waged in Spain 
for the restoration of a Prince who had him- 
self renounced his throne. .\ regency acting in 



JAMES MADISON. 



39 



his name was recognized by Great Britain, 
under whose auspices he was finally restored. 
Napoleon had given the crown of Spain, wrest- 
ed by fraud and violence from the Bourbons, to 
his brother, who was recognized as king; of 
Spain by all the continental powers of Europe, 
and it was in the conflict between these two 
usurpers, that the transatlantic Colonies of 
Spain in this hemisphere, disclaiming alle- 
giance to either of the contending parties, as- 
serted their own rights as independent commu- 
nities. Mr. Madison believed it to be the duty 
and the policy of the United States, while the 
fad remained to be decided by the issue of 
war, to withhold the acknowledgment of sove- 
reign power alike from them all. The reception 
of a minister appointed by the regency of 
Spain, was therefore delayed, until he was 
commissioned by Ferdinand himself after his 
restoration, and the total expulsion of his rival, 
Joseph Buonaparte. But most of the American 
Colonies of Spain, released from their bonds of 
subjection to a European king, by the first 
dethronement and abdication of Charles the 
Fourth, refused ever after all submission to 
the monarchs of Spain, and those on the Ame- 
rican Continents which submitted for a time 
shortly after, declared and have maintained 
their Independence, yet however unacknow- 
ledged by Spain. No general union of the se- 
veral Colonies of Spain, analogous to that of 
the British Colonies in these United Slates, 
has been or is ever likely to be established. 
The several Vice Royalties have in their dis- 
solution, melted into masses of confederated or 
consolidated Governments. They have been 
ravaged by incessant internal dissensions and 
civil war. As they attempt to unite in one, or 
as they separate into parts, new States present 
themselves, claiming the prerogatives of sove- 
reignty, and the powers of Independent na- 
tions. The European kingdoms of France, 
Spain, Portugal, the Netherlands and Greece, 
have been in the same convulsionary State, 
with contending claims of sovereign power, so 
that the question of recognition, in almost num- 
berless cases, and under a multitude of forms, 
has been before the Government of the United 
States for decision. 

The act of recognition, being an execution of 
the laws of nations, is an attribute of executive 
power, and has therefore been invariably per- 
formed under the present Constitution of the 



United States by their President. Mr. Madi- 
son withheld this recognition from the minister 
of the Spanish Regency, but yielded it to the 
same person, when commissioned by Ferdi. 
nand. He left to his successors the obligation 
of withholding and of conceding the acknowl- 
edgment, as the duties of this nation might from 
time to time forbid or enjoin; and a question of 
the deepest interest, under circumstances preg- 
nant with unparalleled consequences, is while I 
speak under the consideration, and subject to the 
decision of the President of the United States. 
The severest trials of our country induced 
by the war with Great Britain were endured by 
the disorder of the national finances. The 
revenues of the Union until then had consisted 
almost exclusively in the proceeds of taxation 
by impost on imported merchandize. Excises, 
land taxes, and taxes upon stamps were resorted 
to during the war, but were always found more 
burdensome and less acceptable to the people. 
It is, however, a disadvantage, perhaps coun- 
terbalanced by consequences more permanently 
beneficial in our political system, that the re- 
venue from impost, more easily collected and 
more productive than any other in time of peace, 
must necessarily fail, almost entirely, in war 
with a nation of superior maritime force. Our 
admirable system of settlement and disposal of 
the public lands had been long established, but 
was at that time and fur many years since little 
known by its fruits. It is doubtful whether 
until the last year the proceeds of the sales 
have been sufficient to defray the cost of the 
purchase, and the expenses of management. 
The prices at which they are sold have been 
reduced, while the wages of labor have risen, 
till the purchaser for settlement receives them 
upon terms nearly gratuitous. They are now 
an inestimable source of a copious revenue, and 
if honestly and carefully managed for the peo- 
ple to whom they belong, may hereafter allevi- 
ate the burden of taxation in all its forms. But 
when the war with Great Britain was declared 
in 1812, the population of this Union was less 
than one half its numbers at the present day 
It increases now at the average rate of half a 
million of souls every year. For this state of 
unexampled prosperity a tribute of gratitude 
and applause is due to the administration of 
Madison, for the wise and conciliatory policy 
upon which it was conducted from the close of 
the war, until the end of his second Presiden- 



40 



JAMES MADISON. 



tial term, in March 1817, when he voluntarily 
retired from public life. 

From that day, for a period advancing upon 
its twentieth year, he lived in a happy retire- 
ment; in the bosom of a family, and with a 
partner for life alike adapted to the repose and 
comfort of domestic privacy, as she had been 
to adorn and dignify the highest of public sta- 
tions. Between the occupations of agriculture, 
the amusements of literature, and the exercise 
of beneficence, the cultivation of the soil, of 
the mind and of the heart, the leisure of his 
latter days was divided. Jn 1829, a Conven- 
lion was held in Virginia for the revisal cf the j 
Constitution of the Commonwealth, in which 
transaction the people of the State again enjoyed 
the benefit of his long experience and his calm 
and conciliatory counsels. The unanimous 
sense of that body would have deferred to him 
the honor of presiding over their deliberalions, 
but the infirmities of age had already so far en- 
croached upon the vigor of his constitution, that 
he declined in the most delicate manner the 
nomination, by proposing himself the election 
of his friend and successor to the Chief Magis- 
tracy of the Union, James Monroe. He was 
accordingly chosen without any other nomina- 
tion, but was afterwards himself so severely 
indisposed, that he was compelled to resign 
both the Presidency and his seat in the Conven- 
tion before they had concluded their labors. 

On one occasion of deep interest to the people 
of the State, on the question of the ratio of re- 
presentation in the two branches of the Legis- 
lature, Mr. Madison took an active part, and 
made a speech the substance of which has been 
preserved. 

" Such in those moments as in all the past." 

This speech is so perfectly characteristic of the 
man, that it niight itself be considered as an 
epitome of his life. Though delivered upon a 
question, which in a discussion upon a Consti- 
tution of this Commonwealth could not even 
be raised, it was upon a subject which probed 
to the deepest foundations the institution of 
civil society. It was upon the condition of the 
colored population of the Commonwealth, and 
upon their relations as persons and as property 
to the State. Every part of the speech is full 
of the spirit which animated him through life. 
Nor can I resist the temptation to repeat a few 



short passages from it, which may serve as 
samples of the whole. 

" It IS sufficiently obvious, said Mr. MadisoNj 
that persons and property are the two great ob- 
jects on which Governments are to act; that the 
rights of persons and the rights of property 
are the objects for the protection of which Go- 
vernment was instituted. These rights cannot 
well be separated. The personal right to ac- 
quire property, which is a natural right, gives to 
properly when acquired, a right to protection, 
as a social right." 

" It is due to justice; due to humanity ; due 
to truth ; to the sympathies of our nature in 
fine, to our character as a people, both abroad 
and at home ; that the colored part of our popu- 
lation should be considered, as much as possi- 
ble, in the light of human beings, and not as 
mere property. As such, they are acted upon 
by our laws, and have an interest in our laws." 
" In framing a Constitution, great difficulties 
are necessarily to be overcome ; and nothing 
can ever overcome them but a spirit of compro- 
mise. Other nations are surprised at nothing 
so much as our having been able to form con- 
stitutions in the manner which has been exem- 
plified in this country. Even the union of so 
many States, is, in the eyes of the world, a 
wonder; the harmonious establishment of a 
common Government over them all, a miracle. 
I cannot but flatter myself that without a mira- 
cle, we shall be able to arrange all difficulties. 
I never have despaired, notwithstanding all 
the threatening appearances we have passed 
through. I have now more than a hope — a 
consoling confidence— that we shall at last find 
that our labors have not been in vain.", 

Mr. Madison was associated with his friend 
JeflTerson in the institution of the University of 
Virginia, and after his decease was placed at 
jits head, under the modest and unassuming 
title of Rector. He was also the President of an 
Agricultural Society in the county of his resi- 
dence, and in that capacity delivered an address, 
which the practical farmer and the classical 
scholar may read with equal prcfit and delight. 
In the midst of these occupations the declin- 
ing days of the Philosopher, the Statesman, 
and the Patriot were past, until the 28th day of 
June last, the anniversary of the day on which 
the ratification of the Convention of Virginia 
in 1788 had affixed the seal of James Madison 
as the father of the Constitution of the United 



JAMES MADISON. 



41 



Slates, when his earthly part sunk without a 
struggle into the grave, and a spirit bright as 
the seraphim that surround the throne of om- 
nipotence, ascended to the bosom of his God. 

This Constitution, my countrymen, is the 
great result of the North American revolution. 
This is the giant stride in the improvement of 
the condition of the human race, consummated 
in a period of less than one hundred years. Of 
the signers of the address to George the Third 
in the Congress of 1774 — of the signers of the 
Declaration of Independence in 1776 — of the 
signers of the Articles of Confederation in 
1781, and of the signers of the federal and na- 
tional Constitution of Government under which 
we live, with enjoyments never before allotted 
to man, not one remains in the land of the liv- 
ing. The last survivor of them all was he to 
honor whose memory we are here assembled 
at once with mourning and with joy. We re- 
verse the order of sentiment and reflection of 
the ancient Persian king — we look back on the 
century gone by — we look around with anxious 
and eager eye for one of that illustrious host of 
Patriots and heroes, under whose guidance the 
revolution of American Independence was be- 
gun, and continued and completed. We look 
around in vain. To them this crowded theatre, 
full of human life, in all its stages of existence, 
full of the glowing exultation of youth, of the 
steady maturity of manhood, the sparkling eyes 
of beauty, and the grey hairs of reverend age 
— all this to them is as the solitude of the se- 
pulchre. We think of this and say, how short 
is human life ! But then, then, we turn back 
our thoughts again, to the scene over which the 
falling curtain has but now closed upon the 
drama of the day. Frtra the saddening thought 
that they are na more, we call for comfort upon 
the memory of what they were, and our hearts 
leap for joy, that they were our fathers. We 
see them, true and faithful subjects of their 
sovereign, first meeting with firm but respect- 
ful remonstrance, the approach of usurpation 
upon their rights. We see them, fearless in 
their fortitude, and confident in the righteous- 
ness of their cause, bid defiance to the arm of 
power, and declare themselves Independent 
States. We see them, waging for seven years 
a war of desolation and of glory, in most un- 
equal contest with their own unnatural step- 
mother, the mistress of the seas, till under the 
sign manual of their king, their Independence 
4* 



was acknowledged — and last and best of all, 
we see them, toiling in war and in peace to 
form and perpetuate an union, under forma of 
Government intricately but skilfully aiJjusted 
so as to secure to themselves and their posterity 
the priceless blessings of inseparable liberty 
and law. 

Their days on earth are ended, and yet their 
century has not passed away. Their portion 
of the blessings which they thus labored to se- 
cure, they have enjoyed, and transmitted to us, 
their posterity. We enjoy them as an inheri- 
tance — won, not by our toils — watered, not 
with our tears — saddened, not by the shedding 
of any blood of ours. The giftof heaven through 
their sufferings and their achievements — but 
not without a charge of corresponding duty in- 
cumbent upon ourselves. 

And what, my friends and fellow citizens — 
what is that duty of our own 1 Is it to remon- 
strate to the adder's ear of a king beyond the 
Atlantic wave, and claim from him the restora- 
tion of violated rights 1 No. Is it to sever the 
ties of kindred and of blood with the people 
from whom we sprang 1 To cast away the pre- 
cious name of Britons, and be no more the 
countrymen of Shakspeare and Milton — of 
Newton and Locke — of Chatham and Burke ? 
Or more and worse, is it to meet their coun- 
trymen in the deadly conflict of a seven years' 
war] No. Is it the last and greatest of the 
duties fulfilled by them 1 Is it to lay the foun- 
dations of the fairest Government and the 
mightiest nation that ever floated on the tide of 
time? No! These awful and solemn duties 
were allotted to them; and by them they were 
faithfully performed. What then is our duty? 
Is it not to preserve, to cherish, to improve 
the inheritance which they have left us — won 
by their toils — watered by their tears — sadden- 
ed but fertilized by their blood 1 Are we the 
sons of worthy sires, and in the onward march 
of time have they achieved in the career of 
human improvement so much, only that our 
posterity and theirs may blush for the contrast be- 
tween their unexampled energies and our nerve- 
less impotence? between their more than Her- 
culean labors and our indolent repose ? No, my 
fellow citizens, far be from us ; far be from you, 
for he who now addresses you has but a few 
short days before he shall be called to join the 
multitude of ages past— far be from you the re- 
proach or the suspicion of such a degrading 



42 



JAMES MADISON. 



contrast. You too have the solemn duty to per- 
form, of improving the condition of your spe- 
cies, by improving your own. Not in the great 
and strong vvind of a revolution, vphich rent the 
mountains and brake in pieces the rocks before 
the Lord — for the Lord is not in the wind — not 
in the earthquake of a revolutionary war, march- 
ing to the onset between the battle field and 
the scaffold — for the Lord is not in the earth- 
quake — not in the fire of civil dissension — in 
war between the members and the head — in 
nullification of the laws of the Union by the 



forcible resistance of one refractory State — for 
the Lord is not in the fire ; and thai fire was 
never kindled by your fathers ! No ! it is in the 
still small voice that succeeded the whirlwind, 
the earthquake and the fire. The voice that 
stills the raging of the waves and the tumults 
of the people — that spoke the words of peace 
— of harmony — of union. And for that voice, 
may you and your children's children, " to the 
last syllable of recorded time," fix your eyes 
upon the memory, and listen with your ears to 
the life of James Madison, 



THE LIFE AND CHAEACTER 



OF 



GILBERT MOTHER DE LAFAYETTE. 



If the authority by which I am now called to 
address you is one of the highest honors that 
could be conferred upon a citizen of this Union 
by his countrymen, I cannot dissemble to my- 
self that it embraces at the same time one of 
the most arduous duties that could be imposed. 
Grateful to you for the honor conferred upon me 
by your invitation, a sentiment of irrepressible 
and fearful diffidence absorbs every faculty of 
my soul in contemplating the magnitude, the 
difficulties, and the delicacy of the task which 
it has been your pleasure to assign to me. 

I am to speak to the North American States 
and People, assembled here in the persons of 
their honored and confidential lawgivers and 
representatives. I am to speak to them, by 
their own appointment, upon the life and 
character of a man whose life was, for nearly 
threescore years, the history of the civilized 
world — of a man, of whose character, to say 
that it is indissolubly identified with the Revo- 
lution of our Independence, is little more than 
to mark the features of his childhood — of a man, 
the personified image of self-circumscribed li- 
berty. Nor can it escape the most superficial 
observation, that, in speaking to the fathers of 
the land upon the life and character of Lafay- 
ette, I cannot forbear to touch upon topics 
which are yet deeply convulsing the world, 
both of opinion and of action. I am to walk 
between burning ploughshares — to tread upon 
fires which have not yet even collected cinders 
to cover them. 

If, in addressing their countrymen upon their 
most important interests, the orators of antiqui- 
ty were accustomed to begin by supplication to 
their gods that nothing unsuitable to be said, or 
unworthy to be heard, might escape from their 

* Delivered at the request of both houses of tlie Con- 
gress of the United States, before them, in the House of 
Representatives at Washington, on the 31st Dec., 1834. 



lips, how much more forcible is my obligation 
to invoke the favor of Him " who touched 
Isaiah's hallowed lips with fire," not only to 
extinguish in the mind every conception un- 
adapted to the grandeur and sublimity of the 
theme, but to draw from the bosom of the deep- 
est conviction, thoughts congenial to the merits 
which it is the duty of the discourse to unfold, 
and words not unworthy of the dignity of the 
auditory before whom I appear. 

In order to form a just estimate of the life 
and character of Lafayette, it may be necessary 
to advert, not only to the circumstances con- 
nected with his birth, education, and lineage, 
but to the political condition of his country and 
of Great Britain, her national rival and adver- 
sary, at the time of his birth, and during his 
years of childhood. 

On the sixth day of September, one thousand 
seven hundred and fifty-seven, the hereditary 
monarch of the British Islands was a native of 
Germany. A rude, illiterate old soldier of the 
wars for the Spanish succession ; little versed 
even in the language of the nations over which 
he ruled ; educated to the maxims and princi- 
ples of the feudal law; of openly licentious 
life, and of moral character far from creditable: 
— he styled himself, by the grace of God, of 
Great Britain, France, and Ireland, King; but 
there was another and real King of France, no 
better, perhaps worse, than himself, and with 
whom he was then at war. This was Louis, 
the fifteenth of the name, great-grandson of his 
immediate predecessor, Louis the Fourteenth, 
sometimes denominated the Great. These two 
kings held their thrones by the law of heredi- 
tary succession, variously modified, in France 
by the Roman Catholic, and in Britain by Pro- 
testant Reformed Christianity. 
They were at war — chiefly for conflicting 



44 



GILBERT MOTHER DE LAFAYETTE 



claims to the possession of the western wilder- 
ness of North America— a prize, the capabili- 
ties of which are now unfolding themselves 
with a grandeur and magnificence unexampled 
in the history of the world; but of which, if 
the nominal possession had remained in either 
of the two prinoes, who were staking their 
kingdoms upon the issue of the strife, the buf- 
falo and the beaver, with their hunter, the In- 
dian savage, would, at this day, have been, as 
they then were, the only inhabitants. 

In this war, George Washington, then at 
the age of twenty-four, was on the side of the 
British German King, a youthful, but heroic 
combatant; and, in the same war, the father of 
Lafayette was on the opposite side, exposing 
his life in the heart of Germany, for the cause 
of the King of France. 

On that day, the sixth of September, one 
thousand seven hundred and fifty seven, was 
born Gilbert Mottier De Lafayette, at the 
Castle of Chavaniac, in Auvergne, and a few 
months after his birth his father fell in battle at 
Minden. 

Let us here observe the influence of political 
institutions over the destinies and the charac- 
ters of men. George the Second was a Ger- 
man Prince; he had been made King of the 
British Islands by the accident of his birth : 
that is to say, because his great-grandmother 
had been the daughter of James the First ; that 
great-grandmother had been married to the King 
of Bohemia, and her youngest daughter had 
been married to the Elector of Hanover. George 
the Second's father was her son, and, when 
.lames the Second had been expelled from his 
throne and his country by the indignation of his 
people, revolted against his tyranny, and when 
his two daughters, who succeeded him, had 
died without issue, George the First, the son of 
the Electress of Hanover, became King of 
Great Britain, by the settlement of an Act of 
Parliament, blending together the principle of 
hereditary succession with that of Reformed 
Protestant Christianity, and the rites of the 
Church of England. 

The threne of France was occupied by virtue 
of the same principle of hereditary succession, 
differently modified, and blended with the 
Christianity of the Church of Rome. From 
this line of succession all females were inflex- 
ibly excluded. Louis the Fifteenth, at the age 
ot six years, had become the absolute sovereign 



of France, because he was the great-grandson 
of his immediate predecessor. He was of the 
third generation in descent from the preceding 
king, and, by the law of primogeniture ingraft- 
ed upon that of lineal succession, did, by the 
death of his ancestor, forthwith succeed, though 
in childhood, to an absolute throne, in prefer- 
ence to numerous descendants from that same 
ancestor, then in full vigor of manhood. 

The first reflection that must recur to a ra- 
tional being, in contemplating these two results 
of the principle of hereditary succession, as 
resorted to for designating the rulers of nations, 
is, that two persons more unfit to occupy the 
thrones of Britain and of France, at the time 
of their respective accessions, could scarcely 
have been found upon the face of the globe — 
George the Second, a foreigner, the son and 
grandson of foreigners, born beyond the seas, 
educated in uncongenial manners, ignorant of 
the constitution, of the laws, even of the lan- 
guage of the people over whom he was to rule; 
and Louis the Fifteenth, an infant, incapable of 
discerning his right hand from his left. Yet, 
strange as it may sound to the ear of unsophis- 
ticated reason, the British Nation vsere wedded 
to the belief that this act of settlement, fixing 
their crown upon the heads of this succession 
of total strangers, was the brightest and most 
glorious exemplification of their national free- 
dom ; and not less strange, if aught in the im- 
perfection of human reason could seem strange, 
was that deep conviction of the French People, 
at the same period, that their chief glory and 
happiness consisted in the vehemence of their 
affection for their king, because he was de- 
scended in an unbroken male line of genealogy 
from Saint Louis. 

One of the fruits of this line of hereditary 
succession, modified by sectarian principles of 
religion, was to make the peace and war, the 
happiness or misery of the people of the Brit- 
ish Empire, dependant upon the fortunes of the 
Electorate of Hanover — the personal domain 
of their imported king. This was a result ca- 
lamitous alike to the people of Hanover; of 
Britain, and of France; for it was one of the 
two causes of that dreadful war then waging 
between them; and as the cause, so was this a 
principal theatre of that disastrous war. It was 
at Minden, in the heart of the Electorate of 
Hanover, that the father of Lafayette fell, and 
left hira an orphan, a victim to that war, and to 



GILBERT MOTTIER DE LAFAYETTE 



45 



the principle of hereditary succession from 
which it emanated. 

Thus then, it was on the 6th of September, 
1757, the day when Lafayette vvas born. The 
kings of France and Great Britain were seated 
upon their thrones by virtue of the principle 
of hereditary succession, variously modified 
and blended with different forms of religious 
faith, and they were waging war against each 
other, and exhausting the blood and treasure of 
their people for causes in which neither of the 
nations had any beneficial or lawful interest. 

In this war the father of Lafayette fell in the 
cause of his king, but not of his country. He 
was an officer cf an invading army, the instru- 
ment of his sovereign's wanton ambition and 
lust of conquest. The people of the Electorate 
of Hanover had done no wronjj to him or to his 
country. When his son came to an age capable 
of understanding the irreparable loss that he 
had suflTered, and to reflect upon the causes of 
his father's fate, there was no drop of consola- 
tion mingled in the cup, from the consideration 
that he had died for his country. And when 
the youthful mind was awakened to meditation 
upon the rights of mankind, the principles of 
freedom, and theories of government, it cannot 
be difficult to perceive, in the illustrations of 
his own family records, the source of that 
aversion to hereditary rule, perhaps the most 
distinguishing feature of his political opinions, 
and to which he adhered through all the vicis- 
situdes of his life. 

In the same war, and at the same time, 
George Washington was armed, a loyal sub- 
ject, in support of his king; but to him that 
was also the cause of hi* country. His com- 
mission was not in the army of George the Se- 
cond, but issued under the authority of the 
Colony of Virginia, the province in which he 
received his birth. On the borders of that 
province, the war in its most horrid forms was 
waged — not a war of mercy and of courtesy, 
like that of the civilized embattled legions of 
Europe, but war to the knife — the war of In- 
dian savages, terrible to man, but more terrible 
to the tender sex, and most terrible to helpless 
infancy. In defence of his country against the 
ravages of such a war, Washington, in the 
dawn of manhood, had drawn his sword, as if 
Providence, with deliberate purpose, had sanc- 
tified for him the practice of war, all-detestable 
and unhallowed as it is, that he might, in a 



cause, virtuous and exalted by its motive and 
its end, be trained and fitted in a congenial 
school to march in aftertimes the leader of he- 
roes in the war of his country's Independence. 
At the time of the birth of Lafayette, this 
war, w hich was to make him a fatherless child, 
and in which Washington was laying broad 
and deep, in the defence and protection of his 
native land, the foundations of his unrivalled 
renown, was but in its early stage. It was to 
continue five years longer, and was to close 
with the total extinguishment of the colonial 
dominion of France on the continent of North 
America. The deep humiliation of France, 
and the triumphant ascendancy on this conti- 
nent of her rival, were the first results of this 
great national conflict. The complete expul- 
sion of France from North America seemed, to 
the superficial vision of men, to fix the British 
power over these extensive regions on founda- 
tions immoveable as the everlasting hills. 

Let us pass in imagination a period of only 
twenty years, and alight upon the borders of 
the river Brandywine. Washington is Com- 
mander-in-chief of the armies of the United 
States of America — war is again raging in the 
heart of his native land— hostile armies of one 
and the same name, blood, and language, are 
arrayed for battle on the banks of the stream ; 
and Philadelphia, where the United States are 
in Congress assembled, and whence their De- 
cree of Independence has gone forth, is the 
destined prize to the conflict of the day. Who 
is that tall, slender youth, of foreign air and as- 
pect, scarcely emerged from the years of boy- 
hood, and fresh from the walls of a college; 
fighting, a volunteer, at the side of Washington, 
bleeding, unconsciously to himself, and rally- 
ing his men to secure the retreat of the scatter- 
ed American ranks ? It is Gilbert Mottier de 
Lafayette — the son of the victim of Minden; 
and he is bleeding in the cause of North Amer- 
ican Independence and of freedom. 

We pause one moment to inquire what was 
this cause of North American Independence, 
and what were the. motives and inducements 
to the youthful stranger to devote himself, his 
life, and fortune, to it. 

The people of the British Colonies in North 
America, after a controversy of ten years' dura- 
tion with their sovereign beyond the seas, upon 
an attempt by him and his parliament to tax 
them without their consent, had been constrain- 



46 



GILBERT MOTTIER DE LAFAYETTE. 



ed by necessity to declare themselves independ- 
ent — to dissolve the tie of their allegiance to 
him — to renounce their right to his protection, 
and to assume their station among the inde- 
pendent civilized nations of the earth. This 
had been done with a deliberation and solemni- 
ty unexampled in the history of the world- 
done in the midst of a civil war, differing in 
character from any of those which for centuries 
before had desolated Europe. The war had 
arisen upon a question between the rights of 
the people and the powers of their government. 
The discussions, in the progress of the contro- 
versy, had opened to the contemplations of men 
the first foundations of civil society and of go- 
vernment. The war of independence began 
by litigation upon a petty stamp on paper, and 
a tax of three pence a pound upon tea ; but 
these broke up the fountains of the great deep, 
and the deluge ensued. Had the British Par- 
liament the right to tax the people of the colo- 
nies in another hemisphere, not represented in 
the Imperial Legislature 1 They affirmed they 
had : the people of the colonies insisted they 
had not. There were ten years of pleading be- 
fore they came to an issue; and all the legiti- 
mate sources of power, and all the primitive 
elements of freedom, were scrutinized, debated, 
analyzed, and elucidated, before the lighting of 
the torch of Ate, and her cry of havoc upon 
letting slip the dogs of war. 

When the day of conflict came, the issue of 
the contest was necessarily changed. The 
people of the colonies had maintained the con- 
test on the principle of resisting the invasion of 
chartered rights — first by argument and remon- 
strance, and finally by appeal to the sword. 
But with the war came the necessary exercise 
of sovereign powers. The Declaration of In- 
dependence justified itself as the only possible 
remedy for insufferable wrongs. It seated it- 
self upon the first foundations of the law of 
nature, and the incontestable doctrine of human 
rights. There was no longer any question of 
the constitutional powers of the British Parlia- 
ment, or of violated colorvial charters. Thence- 
forward the American Nation supported its ex- 
istence by war; and the Britissh Nation, by war, 
was contending for conquest. As, between the 
two parties, the single question at issue was 
Independence — but in the confederate existence 
of the North American Union, LiiERxy — not 
only their owa liberty, but the vital principle 



of liberty to the whole race of civilized man, 
was involved. 

It was at this stage of the conflict, and im- 
mediately after the Declaration of Independ- 
ence, that it drew the attention, and called into 
action the moral sensibilities and the intellect- 
ual faculties of Lafayette, then in the nine- 
teenth year of his age. 

The war was revolutionary. It began by the 
dissolution of the British Government in the 
colonies; the people of which were, by that 
operation, left without any government what- 
ever. They were then at one and the same 
time maintaining their independent national 
existence by war, and forming new social com- 
pacts for their own government thenceforward. 
The construction of civil society; the extent 
and the limitations of organized power ; the 
establishment of a system of government com- 
bining the greatest enlargement of individual 
liberty with the most perfect preservation of 
public order, were the continual occupations of 
every mind. The consequences of this state 
of things to the history of mankind, and espe- 
cially of Europe, were foreseen by none. Eu- 
rope saw nothing but the war; a people 
struggling for liberty, and against oppression ; 
and the people in every part of Europe sym- 
pathized with the people of the American Co- 
lonies. 

With their governments it was not so. The 
people of the American Colonies were insur- 
gents; all governments abhor insurrection; 
they were revolted colonists. The great mari- 
time powers of Europe had colonies of their 
own, to which the example of resistance against 
oppression might b« contagious. The Ameri- 
can Colonies were stigmatized in all the offi- 
cial acts of the British Government as rebels ,- 
and rebellion to the governing part of mankind 
is as the sin of witchcraft. The governments 
of Europe, therefore were, at heart, on the side 
of the British Government in this war, and the 
people of Europe were on the side of the Amer- 
ican people. 

Lafayette, by his position and condition in 
life, was one of those who, governed by the 
ordinary impulses which influence and «ontrol 
the conduct of men, would have sided in senti- 
ment with the British or Royal cause. 

Lafayette was born a subject of the most ab- 
solute and most splendid monarchy of Europe, 
land in the highest rank of her proud and 



GILBERT MOTTIER DE LAFAYETTE. 



4.7 



chivalrous nobility. He had been educated at 
a college of the University of Paris, founded by 
the royal munificence of Louis the Fourteenth, 
or of his minister, Cardinal Richelieu. Left an 
orphan in early childhood, with the inheritance 
of a princely fortune, he had been married, at 
6ixteen years of age, to a daughter of the house 
of Noailles, the most distinguished family of 
the kingdom, scarcely deemed in public consi- 
deration inferior to that which wore the crown. 
He came into active life, at the change from 
boy to man, a husband and a father, in the 
full enjoyment of every thing that avarice 
could covet, with a certain prospect before 
him of all that ambition could crave. Happy in 
his domestic affections, incapable, from the be- 
nignity of his nature, of envy, hatred, or re- 
venge, a life of "ignoble ease and indolent 
repose" seemed to be that which nature and 
fortune had combined to prepare before him. 
To men of ordinary mould this condition would 
have led to a life of luxurious apathy and sen- 
sual indulgence. Such was the life into which, 
from the operation of the same cauFes, Louis 
the Fifteenth had sunk, with his household and 
court, while Lafayette was rising to manhood, 
surrounded by the contamination of their exam- 
ple. Had his natural endowments been even of 
the higher and nobler order of such as adhere 
to virtue, even in the lap of prosperity, and in 
the basom of temptation, he might have lived 
and died a pattern of the nobility of France, to 
be classed, in aftertimes, with the Turennes 
and theMontausiersof theageof LouistheFour- 
teenth, or with the Villars orthe Lamoignons of 
the age immediately preceding his own. 

But as, in the firmament of heaven that rolls 
over onr heads, there is, among the stars of the 
first magnitude, one so pre-eminent in splendor, 
as, in the opinion of astronomers, to constitute 
a class by itself, so, in the fourteen hundred 
years of the French Monarchy, among the 
multitudes of great and mighty men which it 
has evolved, the name of Lafayette stands un- 
rivalled in the solitude of glory. 

In entering upon the threshold of life, a 
career was to open before him. He had the 
option of the court and the camp. An office was 
tendered to him in the household of the kino-'s 
brother, the Count de Provence, since succes- 
sively a royal exile and a reinstated king. The 
servitude and inaction of a court had no charms 
for him ; he preferred a commission in the 



army, and, at the time of the Declaration of 
Independence, was a captain of dragoons in 
garrison at Metz. 

There, at an entertainment given by his rela- 
tive, the Marechal de Broglie, the commandant 
of the place, to the Duke of Gloucester, brother 
to the British King, and then a transient travel- 
ler through that part of France, he learns, as an 
incident of intelligence received that mornincr 
by the English Prince from London, that the 
Congress of Rebels, at Philadelphia, had is- 
sued a Declaration of Independence. A con- 
versation ensues upon the causes which have 
contributed to produce this event, and upon the 
consequences which may be expected to flow 
from it. The imagination of Lafayette has 
caught across the Atlantic tide the spark emit- 
ted from the Declaration of Independence ; his 
heart has kindled at the shock, and, before he 
slumbers upon his pillow, he has resolved to 
devote his life and fortune to the cause. 

You have before you the cause and the man. 
The self devotion of Lafayette was twofold. 
First, to the people, maintaining a bold and 
seemingly desperate struggle against oppres- 
sion, and for national existence. Secondly, and 
chiefly, to the principles of their Declaration, 
which then first unfurled before his eyes the 
consecrated standard of human rights. To that 
standard, without an instant of hesitation, he 
repaired. Where it would lead him, it is 
scarcely probable that he himself then foresaw. 
It was then identical with the stars and stripes 
of the American Union, floating to the breeze 
from the Hall of Independence, at Philadel- 
phia. Nor sordid avarice, nor vulgar ambition, 
could point his footsteps to the pathway lead- 
ing to that banner. To the love of ease or 
pleasure nothing could be more repulsive. 
Something may be allowed to the beatings of 
the youthful breast, which^make ambition vir- 
tue, and something to the spirit of military 
adventure, imbibed from his profession, and 
which he felt in common with many others. 
France, Germany, Poland, furnished to the 
armies of this Union, in our revolutionary 
struggle, no inconsiderable number of officers 
of high rank and distinguished merit. The 
names of Pulaski and De Kalb are numbered 
among the martyrs of our freedom, and their 
ashes repose in our soil side by side with the 
canonized bones of Warren and of Montgome- 
ry. To the virtues of Lafayette, a more pro- 



48 



GILBERT MOTTIER DE LAFAYETTE. 



traded career and happier earlhly destinies 
were reserved. To the moral principle of 
political action, the sacrifices of no other man 
were conaparable to his. Youth, health, for- 
tune; the favor of his king; the enjoyment of 
ease and pleasure ; even the choicest blessings 
of domestic felicity — he gave them all for toil 
and danger in a distant land, and an almost 
hopeless cause; but it was the cause of justice, 
and of the rights of human kind. 

The resolve is firmly fixed, and it now re- 
mains to be carried into execution. On the 7th 
of December, 1776, Silas Deane, then a secret 
agent of the American Congress at Paris, 
stipulates with the Marquis de Lafayette that 
he shall receive a commission, to date from that 
day, of Major-General in the Army of the 
United States ; and the Marquis stipulates, in 
return, to depart when and how Mr. Deane 
shall judge proper, to serve the Uuited States 
with all possible zeal, without payor emolu- 
ment, reserving to himself only the liberty of 
returning to Europe, if his family or his king 
should recall him. 

iSieither his family nor his king were willing 
that he should depart; nor had Mr. Deane 
the power, either to conclude this contract, or 
to furnish the means of his conveyance to 
America. Difficulties rise up before him only 
to be dispersed, and obstacles thicken only to 
be surmounted. The day after the signature of 
the contract, Mr. Deane's agency was super- 
seded by the arrival of Doctor Benjamin Frank- 
lin and Arthur Lee as his colleagues in com- 
mission ; nor did they think ihemselves autho- 
rized to confirm his engagement. Lafayette is 
not to be discouraged. The commissioners ex- 
tenuate nothing of the unpromising condition 
of their cause. Mr. Deane avows his inability 
to furnish him with a passage to the United 
States. " The more desperate the cause," says 
Lafayette, "the greater need has it of my 
services ; and, if Mr. Deane has no vesseWor 
ray passage, I shall purchase one myself, and 
will traverse the ocean with a selected compa- 
ny of my own." 

Oiher impediments arise. His design be- 
comes known to the British An^tassador at the 
Court of Versailles, who remonstrates to the 
French Government against it. At his instance, 
orders are issued for the detention of the vessel 
purchased by the Marquis, and fitted out at 
Bordeaux, and for the arrest of his person. To 



elude the first of these orders, the vessel is 
removed from Bordeaux to the neighboring port 
of Passage, within the dominion of Spain. The 
order for his own arrest is executed ; but, by 
stratagem and disguise, he escapes from the 
custody of those who have him in charge, and, 
before a second order can reach him, he is safe 
on the ocean wave, bound to the land of Inde- 
pendence and of freedom. 

It had been necessary to clear out the vessel 
for an island of the West Indies; but, once at 
sea, he avails himself of his right as owner of 
the ship, and compels his captain to steer for 
the shores of emancipated North America. He 
lands, with his companions, on the 25th of 
April, 1777, in South Carolina, not far from 
Charleston, and finds a most cordial reception 
and hospitable welcome in the house of Major 
Huger. 

Every detail of this adventurous expedition, 
full of incidents, combining with the simplicity 
of historical truth all the interest of romance, is 
so well known, and so familiar to the memory 
of all who hear me, that I pass them over with- 
out further notice. 

From Charleston he proceeded to Philadel- 
phia, where the Congress of the Revolution 
were in session, and where he offered his ser- 
vices in the cause. Here, again, he was met 
with difficulties, which, to men of ordinary 
minds, would have been insurmountable. Mr. 
Deane's contracts were so numerous, and for 
offices of rank so high, that it was impossible 
they should be ratified by the Congress. He 
had stipulated for the appointment of other 
Major- Generals ; and, in the same contract with 
that of Lafayette, for eleven other officers, from 
the rank of Colonel to that of Lieutenant. To 
introduce these officers, strangers, scarcely 
one of whom could speak the language of the 
country, into the American army, to take rank 
and precedence over the native citizens whose 
ardent patriotism had pointed them to the 
standard of their country, could not, without 
great injustice, nor without exciting the most 
fatal dissensions, have been done ; and this an- 
swer was necessarily given as well to Lafay- 
ette as to the other officers who had accompa- 
nied him from Europe. His reply was an offer 
to serve as a volunteer, and without pay. 
Magnanimity, thus disinterested, could not be 
resisted, nor could the sense of it be worthily 
manifested by a mere acceptance of the offer. 



GILBERT MOTTIER DE LAFAYETTE 



49 



On the 31st of July, 1777, therefore, the fol- 
lowing resolution and preamble are recorded 
upon the journals of Congress : 

" Whereas, the Marquis de Lafayette, out of 
his great zeal to the cause of liberty, in which 
the United States are engaged, has left his 
family and connexions, and, at his own ex- 
pense, come over to offer his service to the 
United States, without pension, or particular 
allowance, and is anxious to risii his life in our 
cause : 

" Resolved, That his service be accepted, and 
that, in consideration of his zeal, illustrious 
family, and connexions, he have the rank and 
commission of Major-General in the army of the 
United States." 

He had the rank and commission, but no 
command as a Major-General. With this, all 
personal ambition was gratified: and whatever 
services he might perform, he could attain no 
higher rank in the American army. The dis- 
contents of ofBcers already in the service, at 
being superseded in command by a stripling 
foreigner, were disarmed ; nor was the prudence 
of congress, perhaps, without its influence in 
withholding a command, which, but for a judg- 
ment premature '"beyond the slow advance of 
years," might have hazarded something of the 
sacred cause itself, by confidence too hastily 
bestowed. 

The day after the date of his commission, he 
was introduced to Washington, Commander- 
in-chief of the armies of the Confederation. It 
was the critical period of the campaign of 
1777. The British army, commanded by Lord 
Howe, was advancing from the head of Elk, to 
which they had been transported by sea from 
New York, upon Philadelphia. Washington, 
by a counteracting movement, had been ap- 
proaching from his line of defence, in the 
Jerseys, towards the city, and arrived there on 
the 1st of August. It was a meeting of conge- 
nial souls. At the close of it, Washington gave 
the youthful stranger an invitation to maive the 
head-quarters of the Commander-in-chief his 
home: that he should establish himself there 
at his own tiuie, and consider himself at all 
times as one of his family. It was natural that, 
in giving this invitation, he should remark the 
contrast of the situation in which it would 
place him with that of ease, and comfort, and 
luxurious enjoyment, which he had left, at the 
splendid court of Louis the Sixteenth, and of 
5 



his beautiful and accomplished, but ill-fated 
queen, then at the very summit of all which 
constitutes the common estimate of feliciiy. 
How deep and solemn was this contrast! 
No native American had undergone the trial of 
the same alternative. None of them, save 
Lafayette, had brought the same tribute, of his 
life, his fortune, and his honor, to a cause of a 
country foreign to his own. To Lafayette the 
soil of freedom was his country. His post of 
honor was tlie post of danger. His fireside was 
the field of battle. He accepted with joy the 
invitation of Washington, and repaired forth- 
with to the camp. The bond of indissoluble 
friendship — the friendship of heroes, was seal- 
ed from the first hour of their meeting, to 
last through their lives, and to live in the 
memory of mankind for ever. 

It was, perhaps, at the suggestion of the 
American Commissioners in France, that this 
invitation was given by Washington. In a 
letter from them, of the 25th of May, 1777, to 
the Committee of Foreign Affairs, they an- 
nounce that the Marquis had departed for the 
United States in a ship of his own, accompa- 
nied by some officers of distinction, in order to 
serve in our armies. They observe that he is 
exceedingly beloved, and that every body's 
good wishes attend him. They cannot but hope 
that he will meet with such a reception as will 
make the country and his expedition agreeable to 
him. They further say that those who censure it 
asimprudentinhim.do nevertheless applaud his 
spirit; and they are satisfied that civilities and 
respect shown to him will be serviceable to our 
cause in France, as pleasing not only to his 
powerful relations and to the court, but to the 
whole French nation. They finally add, tha: 
he had left a beautiful young wife, and for her 
sake, particularly, they hoped that his bravery 
and ardent desire to distinguish himself would 
be a lilt'e restrained by the General's (Wash- 
ington's) prudence, so as not to permit his 
being hazarded much, but upon some important 
occasion. 

The head-quarters of Washington, serving as 
a volunteer, with the rank and commission of a 
Major-General without command, was precise- 
ly the station adapted to the development of 
his character, to his own honor, and that of the 
army, and to the prudent management of the 
country's cause. To him it was at once a severe 
school of experience, and a rigorous test of 



50 



GILBERT MOTTIER DE LAFAYETTE. 



merit. But it vas not the place to restrain him 
from exposure to dangei. The time at which 
he joined the camp was one of pre-eminent 
peril. The British Government, and the Com- 
mander in-chief of the British forces, had 
imogined that the possession of Philadelphia, 
combined with that of the line along the Hud- 
son river, from the Canadian frontier to the 
city of New York, would be fatal to the Ame- 
rican cause. By the capture of Burgoyne and 
his army, that portion of the project sustained 
a total defeat. The final issue of the war was 
indeed sealed with the capitulation of the 17ih 
of October, 1777, at Saratoga— sealed, not with 
the subjugation, but with the independence of 
the North American Union. 

In the Southern campaign the British com- 
mander was more successful. The fall of Phi- 
ladelphia was the result of the battle of Bran- 
dy wine, on the 11th of September. This was 
the first action in which Lafayette was engaged, 
and the first lesson of his practical military 
school was a lesson of misfortune. In the at- 
tempt to rally the American troops in their 
retreat, he received a musket-ball in the leg. 
He was scarcely conscious of the wound till 
made sensible of it by the loss of blood, and 
even then ceased not his exertions in the field 
till he had secured and covered the retreat. 

This casualty confined him for some time to 
his bed at Philadelphia, and afterwards detain- 
ed him some days at Bethlehem; but within 
six weeks he rejoined the head-quarters of 
Washington, near Whilemarsh. He soon be- 
came anxious to obtain a command equal to his 
rank, and in the short space of time that he had 
been with the Commander-in-chief, had so 
thoroughly obtained his confidence as to secure 
an earnest solicitation from him to congress in 
his favor. In a letter to congress of the 1st 
November, 1777, he says : " The Marquis de 
Lafayette is extremely solicitous of having a 
command equal to his rank. I do not know in 
what light congress will view the matter, but 
it appears to me, from a consideration of his 
illustrious and important connexions, the at- 
tachment which he has manifested for our 
cause, and the consequences which his return 
in disgust might produce, that it will be advi- 
sable to gratify him in his wishes ; and the 
more so, as several gentlemen from France, 
who came over under some assurances, have 
gone back disappointed in their expectations. 



His conduct with respect to them stands in a 
favorable point of view ; having interested him- 
self to remove their uneasiness, and urged the 
impropriety of their making any unfavorable 
representations upon their arrival at home; and 
in all his letters he has placed our affairs in the 
best situation he could. Besides, he is sensible ; 
discreet in his manners ; has made great profi- 
ciency in our language ; and, from the disposi- 
tion he discovered at the battle of Brandywine, 
possesses a large share of bravery and military 
ardor." 

Perhaps one of the highest encomiums ever 
pronounced of a man in public life, is that of an 
historian eminent for his profound acquaintance 
with mankind, who, in painting a great 
character by a single line, says that he was 
just equal to all the duties of the highest offices 
which he attained, and never above them. 
There are in some men qualities which dazzle 
and consume to little or no valuable purpose. 
They seldom belong to the great benefactors of 
mankind. They were not the qualities of 
Washington or Lafayette. The testimonial 
offered by the American commander to his 
young friend, after a probation of several 
months, and after the severe test of the disas- 
trousday of Brandywine, was precisely adapted 
to the man in whose favor it was given, and to 
the object which it was to accomplish. What 
earnestness of purpose ! what sincerity of 
conviction! what energetic simplicity of ex- 
pression! what thorough delineation of charac- 
ter! The merits of Lafayette, to the eye of 
Washington, are the candor and generosity of 
his disposition— the indefatigable industry of 
application which, in the course of a few 
months, has already given him the mastery of 
a foreign language — good sense — discretion of 
manners, an attribute not only unusual in early 
years, but doubly rare in alliance with that 
enthusiasm so signally marked by his self-de- 
votion to ihe American cause; and, to crown 
all the rest, the bravery and military ardor 
so brilliantly manifested at the Brandywine. 
Here is no random praise ; no unmeaning 
panegyric. The cluster of qualities, all plain 
and simple, but so seldom found in union 
together, so generally incompatible with one 
another, these are the properties eminently 
trustworthy, in the judgment of Washington; 
and these are the properties which his discern- 
ment has found in Lafayette, and which urge 



GILBERT MOTTIER DE LAFAYETTE 



51 



him thus earnestly to advise the gratification of 
his wish by the assignment of a command equal 
to the rank which had been granted to his zeal 
and his illustrious name. 

The recommendation of Washington had its 
immediate effect ; and on the 1st of December, 
1777, it was resolved by Congress that he 
should be informed it was highly agreeable to 
congress that the Marquis de Lafayette should 
be appointed to the command of a division in 
the Continental Army. 

He received accordingly such an appoint- 
ment ; and a plan was organized in congress 
for a second invasion of Canada, at the head 
of which he was placed. This expedition, ori- 
ginally projected without consultation with the 
commander-in-chief, might be connected with 
the temporary dissatisfaction, in the community 
and in congress, at the ill success of his endea- 
vors to defend Philadelphia, which rival and 
unfriendly partisans were too ready to compare 
with the splendid termination, by the capture 
of Burgoyne and his army, of the northern 
campaign, under the command of General 
Gates. To foreclose all suspicion of participa- 
tion in these views, Lafayette proceeded to the 
seat of congress, and, accepting the important 
charge which it was proposed to assign to him, 
obtained at his particular request that he should 
be considered as an officer detached from the 
army of Washington, and to remain under his 
orders. He then repaired in person to Albany, 
to take command of the troops who were to 
assemble at that place, in order to cross the 
lakes on the ice, and attack Montreal ; but on 
arriving at Albany he found none of the 
promised preparations in readiness — they were 
never effected. Congress some time after re- 
linquished the design, and the Marquis was 
ordered to rejoin the army of Washington. 

In the succeedingmonth of May, his military 
talent was displayed by the masterly retreat 
effected in the presence of an overwhelming 
superiority of the enemy's force from the posi- 
tion at Barren Hill. 

He was soon after distinguished at the battle 
of Monmouth ; and in September, 1778, a re- 
solution of congress declared their high sense 
of his services, not only in the field, but in his 
exertions to conciliate and heal dissensions 
between the officers of the French fleet under 
the command of Count d'Estaing and some of 
the native officers of our army. These dissen 



sions had arisen in the first moments of co- 
operation in the service, and had threatened 
pernicious consequences. 

In the month of April, 1776, the combined 
wisdom of the Count de Vergennes and of Mr. 
Turgot, the Prime Minister, and the Financier 
of Louis the Sixteenth, had brought him to the 
conclusion that the event most desirable to 
France, with regard to the controversy between 
Great Britain and her American Colonies, was 
that the insurrection should be suppressed. 
This judgment, evincing only the total absence 
of all moral considerations, in the estimate, by 
these eminent statesmen, of what was desirable 
to France, had undergone a great change by the 
close of the year 1777. The Declaration of In- 
dependence had changed the question between 
the parties. The popular feeling of France was 
all on the side of the Americans. The daring 
and romantic movement of Lafayette, in defi- 
ance of the government itself, then highly 
favored by public opinion, was followed by 
universal admiration. The spontaneous spirit 
of the people gradually spread itself even over 
the rank corruption of the court ; a suspicious 
and deceptive neutrality succeeded to an osten- 
sible exclusion of the Insurgents from the ports 
of France, till the capitulation of Burgoyne 
satisfied the casuists of international law at 
Versailles, that the suppression of the insur- 
rection was no longer the most desirable of 
events; but that the United States were, de 
facto, sovereign and independent, and that 
France might conlude a Treaty of Commerce 
with them, without giving just cause of offence 
to the stepmother country. On the 6th of Feb- 
ruary, 1778, a Treaty of Commerce between 
France and the United States was concluded, 
and with it, on the same day, a Treaty of even- 
tual Defensive Alliance, to take effect only in 
the event of Great Britain's resenting, by war 
against France, the consummation of the Com- 
mercial Treaty. The war immediately ensued, 
and in the summer of 1778, a French fleet, 
under the command of Count d'Estaing, was 
sent to co-operate with the forces of the Uniteri 
States for the maintenance of their Independ- 
ence. 

By these events the position of the Marquis 
de Lafayette was essentially changed. It be- 
came necessary for him to reinstate himself in 
the good graces of his sovereign, offended at 
his absenting himself from his country without 



52 



GILBERT MOTTIER DE LAFAYETTE 



permission, but gratified with the distinction 
which he had acquired by gallant deeds in a 
service now become that of France herself. At 
the close of the campaign of 1778, with the 
approbation of his friend and patron, the Com- 
raander-in-chief, he addressed a letter to the 
President of Congress, representing his then 
present circumstances with the confidence of 
affection and gratitude, observing that the sen- 
timents which bound him to his country could 
never be more properly spoken of than in the 
presence of men who had done so much for their 
own. " As long," continued he, " as I thought 
I could dispose of myself, I made it my pride 
and pleasure to fight under American colors, in 
defence of a cause which I dare more particu- 
larly call ours, because I had the good fortune 
of bleeding for her. Now, Sir, that France is 
involved in a war, I am urged, by a sense of 
my duty, as well as by the love of my country, 
to present myself before the king, and know in 
what manner he judges proper to employ my 
service?. The most agreeable of all will always 
be such as may enable me to serve the common 
cause among those whose friendship I had the 
happiness to obtain, and whose fortune I had 
the honor to follow in less smiling times. That 
reason, and others, which I leave to the feelings 
of congress, engage me to beg from them the 
liberty of going home for the next winter. 

" As long as there were any hopes of an ac- 
tive campaign, I did not think of leaving the 
field; now that I see a very peaceable and 
undisturbed moment, 1 take this opportunity of 
waiting on congress." 

In the remainder of the letter he solicited 
that, in the event of his request being granted, 
he might be considered as a soldier on furlough, 
heartily wishing to regain his colors and his 
esteemed and beloved fellow-soldiers. And he 
closes with a tender of any services which he 
might be enabled to render to the American 
cause in his own country. 

On the receipt of this letter, accompanied by 
one from General Washington, recommending 
to congress, in terms most honourable to the 
Marquis, a compliance with his request, that 
body immediately passed resolutions granting 
him an unlimited leave of absence, with per 



ed zeal which had led him to America, and for 
the services he had rendered to the United 
States by the exertion of his courage and abili- 
ties on many signal occasions; and that the 
Minister Plenipotentiary of the United States 
at the Court of Versailles should be directed to 
cause an elegant sword, with proper devices, to 
be made, and presented to him in the name of 
the United States. These resolutions were 
communicated to him in a letter expressive of 
the sensibility congenial to them, from the 
President of Congress, Henry Laurens. 

He embarked in January, 1779, in the frigate 
Alliance, at Boston, and, on the succeeding 
12lh day of February, presented himself at 
Versailles. Twelvemonths had already elapsed 
since the conclusion of the treaties of commerce 
and of eventual alliance between France and 
the United States. They had, during the great- 
er pait of that time, been deeply engaged in 
war with a common cause against Great Bri- 
tain, and it was the cause in which Lafayette 
had been shedding his blood ; yet, instead of 
receiving him with open arms, as the pride and 
ornament of his country, a cold and hollow- 
hearted order was issued to him not to present 
himself at court, but to consider himself under 
arrest, with permission to receive visits only 
from his relations. This ostensible mark of the 
royal displeasure was to last eight days, and 
Lafayette manifested his sense of it only by a 
letter to the Count de Vergennes, inquiring 
whether the interdiction upon him to receive 
visits was to be considered as extending to that 
of Doctor Franklin. The sentiment of universal 
admiration which had followed him at his first 
departure, greatly increased by his splendid 
career of service during the two years of hfs 
absence, indemnified him for the indignity of 
the courtly rebuke. 

He remained in France through the year 
1779, and returned to the scene of action early 
in the ensuing year. He continued in the 
French service, and was appointed to com- 
mand the king's own regiment of dragoons, 
stationed during the year in various parts of the 
kingdom, and holding an incessant correspond- 
ence with the ministers of Foreign Affairs and 
of War, urging the employment of a land and 



mission to return to the United States at his naval force in aid of the American cause, 
own most convenient time; that the President "The Marquis de Lafayette," says Doctor 
of Congress should write him a letter returning Franklin, in a letter of the 4lh of March, 1780, 
him the thanks of congress for that disinterest-] to the President of Congress, " who during 



GILBERT MOTTIER DE LAFAYETTE. 



53 



his residence in France, has been extremely 
zealous in supporting our cause on all occasions, 
returns again to fight for it. He is infinitely 
esteemed and beloved here, and I am persuaded 
will do every thing in his power to merit a 
continuance of the same affection from Ame- 
rica." 

Immediately after his arrival in the United 
States, it was, on the 16th of May, 1780, 
resolved in congress, that they considered his 
return to America to resume his command, as a 
fiesh proof of the disinterested zeal and perse- 
vering attachment which have justly recom- 
mended him to the public confidence and 
applause, and that they received with pleasure 
a tender of the further services of so gallant 
and meritorious an officer. 

From this time until the termination of the 
campaign of I78I, by the surrender of Lord 
Cornwallis and his army at Yorktown, his 
service was of incessant activity, always sig- 
nalized by military talents unsurpassed, and 
by a spirit never to be subdued. At the time of 
the treason of Arnold, Lafayette was accom- 
panying his commander-in-chief to an impor- 
tant conference and consultation with the 
French General, Rochambeau ; and then, as in 
every stage of the war, it seemed as if the 
position which he occupied, his personal cha- 
racter, his individual relations with Washing- 
ton, with the officers of both the allied armies, 
and with the armies themselves, had been spe- 
cially ordered to promote and secure that harmo- 
ny and mutual good understanding indispensa- 
bleto the ultimate success of the common cause. 
His position, too, as a foreigner by birth, a 
European, a volunteer in the American service, 
and a person of high rank in his native country, j 
pointed him out as peculiarly suited to the 
painful duty of deciding upon the character of 
the crime, and upon the fate of the British offi- 
cer, the accomplice and victim of the detested 
traitor, Arnold. 

In the early part of the campaign of 1781, 
when Cornwallis, with an overwhelming force, 
was spreading ruin and devastation over the 
southern portion of the Union, we find Lafay- 
ette, with means altogether inadequate, charged 
with the defence of the territory of Virginia. 
Always equal to the emergencies in which cir- 
cumstances placed him, his expedients for 
encountering and surmounting the obstacles 
which they cast in his way are invariably 
5* 



stamped with the peculiarities of his character. 
The troops placed under his command for the 
defence of Virginia, were chiefly taken from 
the eastern regiments, unseasoned to the cli- 
mate of the south, and prejudiced against it as 
unfavorable to the health of the natives of the 
more rigorous regions of the north. Desertions 
became frequent, till they threatened the very 
dissolution of the corps. Instead of resorting to 
military execution to retain his men, he appeals 
to the sympathies of honor. He states, in 
general orders, the great danger and difficulty 
of the enterprise upon which he is about to em- 
bark ; represents the only possibility by which 
it can promise success, the faithful adherence 
of the soldiers to their chief, and his confidence 
that they will not abandon him. He then adds, 
that if, however, any individual of the detach- 
ment was unwilling to follow him, a passport 
to return to his home should be forthwith grant 
ed him upon his application. It is to a cause 
like that of American Independence that re- 
sources like this are congenial. After these 
general orders, nothing more was heard of 
desertion. The very cripples of the army pre- 
ferred paying for their own transportation, to 
follow the corps, rather than to ask for the dis- 
mission which had been made so easily acces- 
sible to all. 

But how shall the deficiencies of the military 
chest be supplied 1 The want of money was 
heavily pressing upon the service in every 
direction. Where are the sinews of war ] How 
are the troops to march without shoes, linen, 
clothing of all descriptions, and other necessa- 
ries of life 1 Lafayette has found them all. 
From the patriotic merchants of Baltimore be 
obtains, on the pledge of his own personal 
credit, a loan of money, adequate to the pur- 
chase of the materials ; and from the fair hands 
of the daughters of the monumental city, even 
then worthy to be so called, he obtains the toil 
of making up the needed garments. 

The details of the campaign, from its un- 
promising outset, when Cornwallis, the British 
commander, exulted in anticipation that the 
boy could not escape him, till the storming of 
the twin redoubts, in emulation of gallantry by 
the valiant Frenchmen of Viomesnil, and the 
American fellow-soldiers of Lafayette, led by 
him to victory at Yorktown, must be left to the 
recording pen of history. Both redoubts were 
carried at the point of the sword, and Cornwal- 



54 



GILBERT MOTTIER DE LAFAYETTE. 



lis, with averted face, surrendered his sword 
lo Washington. 

This was the last vital struggle of the war, 
which, however, lingered through another year 
rather of negotiation than of action. Imme- 
diately afier the capitulation at Yorktown, 
Lafayette asked and obtained again a leave of 
absence to visit his family and his country, and 
with this closed his military service in the field 
during the Revolutionary War. But it was not 
for the individual enjoyment of his renown that 
he returned to France. The resolutions of con- 
gress accompanying that which gave him a 
discretionary leave of absence, while honorary 
in the highest degree to him, were equally 
marked by a grant of virtual credentials for 
negotiation, and by the trust of confidential 
powers, together with a letter of the warmest 
commendation of the gallant soldier to the 
favor of his king. The ensuing year was con- 
sumed in preparations for a formidable com- 
bined French and Spanish expedition against 
the British Islands in the West Indies, and 
particularly the Island of Jamaica; thence to 
recoil upon New York, and to pursue the offen- 
sive war into Canada. The fleet destined for this 
gigantic undertaking was already assembled at 
Cadiz ; and Lafayette, appointed tiie chief of 
the siaflT, was there ready to embark upon this 
perilous adventure, when, on the 30th of No- 
vember, 1782, the preliminary treaties of peace 
were concluded between his Britannic Majesty 
on one part, and the allied powers of France, 
Spain, and the United States of America, on 
the other. The first intelligence of this event 
received by the American congress was in the 
communication of a letter from Lafayette. 

The war of Americanlndependence is closed. 
The people of the North American Confedera- 
tion are in union, sovereign and independent. 
Lafayette, at twenty-five years of age, has 
lived the life of a patriarch, and illustrated the 
career of a hero. Had his days upon earth been 
then numbered, and had he then slept with his 
fathers, illustrious as for centuries their names 
had been, his name, to the end of time, would 
have transcended them all. Fortunate youth ! 
fortunate beyond even the measure of his com- 
panions in arms with whom ho had achieved 
the glorious consummation of American Inde- 
pendence. His fame was all his own ; not 
cheaply earned ; not ignobly won. His fellow 
soldiers had been the chatnpions and defenders 



of their country. They reaped for themselves» 
for their wives, their children, their posterity to 
the latest time, the rewards of their dangers 
and their toils. Lafayette had watched, and 
labored, and fought, and bled, not for himself, 
not for his family, not, in the first instance, 
even for his country. In the legendary tales of 
chivaliy we read of tournaments at which a 
foreign and unknown knight suddenly presents 
himself, armed in complete steel, and, with the 
vizor down, enters the ring to contend with the 
assembled flower of knighthood for the prize 
of honor, to be awarded by the hand of beauty ; 
bears it in triumph away, and disappears from 
the astonished multitude of competitors and 
spectators of the feats of arms. But where, in 
the rolls of history, where, in the fictions of 
romance, where, but in the life of Lafayette, 
has been seen the noble stranger, flying, with 
the tribute of his name, his rank, his affluence, 
his ease, his domestic bliss, his treasure, his 
blood, to the relief of a suffering and distant 
land, in the hour of her deepest calamity — 
baring his bosom to her foee ; and not at the 
transient pageantry of a tournament, but for a 
succession of five years sharing all the vicissi- 
tudes of her fortunes; always eager to appear 
at the post of danger — tempering the glow of 
youthful ardor with the cold caution of a vete- 
ran commander; bold and daring in action; 
prompt in exciution ; rapid in pursuit ; fertile in 
expedients; unattainable in retreat; often ex- 
posed, but never surprised, never disconcerted ; 
eluding his enemy when within his fancied 
grasp; bearing upon him with irresistible sway 
when of force to cope with him in the conflict 
of arms'? And what is this but the diary of 
Lafayette, from the day of his rallying the scat- 
tered fugitives of the Brandywine, insensible 
of the blood flowing from his wound, to the 
storming of the redoubt at Yorktown 1 

Henceforth, as a public man, Lafayette is to 
be considered as a Frenchman, always active 
and ardent to serve the United States, but no 
longer in their service as an officer. So tran- 
scendar.t had been his merits in the common 
cause, that, to reward them, the rule of pro- 
gressive advancement in the armies of France 
was set aside for him. He received from the 
Minister of War a notification that from the 
day of his retirement from the service of the 
United States as a major-general, at the close 
of the war, he should hold the same rank in 



GILBERT MOTTIER DE LAFAYETTE 



55 



the araiies of France, to date from the day of 
the capitulation of Lord Cornwallis. 

Henceforth he is a Frenchman, destined to 
perform in the history of his country a part, as 
peculiarly his own, and not less glorious than 
that which he had performed in the war of In- 
dependence. A short period of profound peace 
followed the great triumph of freedom. The 
desire of Lafayette once more to see the land 
of his adoption and the associates of his glory, 
the fellow-soldiers who had become to him as 
brothers, and the friend and patron of his youth, 
who had become to him as a father; sympa- 
thizing with their desire once more to see him 
— to see in their prosperity him who had first 
come to them in their aflliction, induced him, in 
in the year 1784, to pay a visit to the United 
States. 

On the 4th of August, of that year, he landed 
at New York, and, in the space of five months 
from that time, visited his venerable friend at 
Mount Vernon, where he was then living in re- 
tirement, and traversed ten States of the Union, 
receiving everywhere, from their legislative 
assemblies, from the municipal bodies of the 
cities and towns through which he passed, from 
the officers of the army, his late associates, 
now restored to the virtues and occupations of 
private life, and even from the recent emigrants 
from Ireland, who had come to adopt for their 
country the self emancipated land, addresses of 
gratulation and of joy, the effusions of hearts 
grateful in the enjoyment of the blessings for 
the possession of which they had been so large- 
ly indebted to his exertions — and finally, from 
the United States of America in Congress as- 
sembled at Trenton. 

On the 9.h of December it was resolved by 
that body that a committee, to consist of one 
member from each State, should be appointed 
to receive, and in the name of Congress take 
lea?e of the Marquis. That they should be 
instructed to assure him that Congress contin- 
ued to entertain the same high sense of his 
abilities and zeal to promote the welfare of 
America, both here and in Europe, which they 
had frequently expressed and manifested on 
former occasions, and which the recent marks 
of his attention to their commercial and other 
interests had perfectly confirmed. " That, as 
his uniform and unceasing attachment to this 
country has resembled that of a patriotic citizen, 
the United States regard him with particular 



affection, and will not cease to feel an interest 
in whatever may concern his honor and pros- 
perity, and that their best and kindest wishes 
will always attend him." 

And it was further resolved, that a letter be 
written to his Most Christian Majesty, to be 
signed by his Excellency the President of Con- 
gress, expressive of the high sense which the 
United States in Congress assembled entertain 
of the zeal, talents, and meritorious services of 
the Marquis de Lafayette, and recommending 
him to the favor and patronage of his Majesty. 

The first of these resolutions was, on the next 
day, carried into execution. At a solemn inter- 
view with the committee of Congress, received 
in their hall, and addressed by the chairman of 
their committee, John Jay, the purport of these 
resolutions was communicated to him. He 
replied in terms of fervent sensibility for the 
kindness manifested personally to himself; and, 
with allusions to the situation, the prospects, 
and the duties of the people of this country, he 
pointed out the great interests which he believ- 
ed it indispensable to their welfare that they 
should cultivate and cherish. In the following 
memorable sentences the ultimate objects of 
his solicitude are disclosed in a tone deeply 
solemn and impressive: 

"May this immense temple of freedom," 
said he, " ever stand, a lesson to oppressors, an 
example to the oppressed, a sanctuary for the 
rights of mankind ! and may these happy 
United States attain that complete splendor 
and prosperity which will illustrate the bless- 
ings of their government, and for agps to come 
rejoice the departed souls of its founders." 

Fellow-citizens! Ages have passed away 
since these words were spoken; but ages are 
the years of the existence of nations. The 
founders of this immense temple of freedom 
have all departed, save here and there a solitary 
exception, even while 1 speak, at the point of 
taking wing. The prayer of Lafayette is not 
yet consummated. Ages upon ages are still to 
pass away before it can have its full accom- 
plishment; and, for its full accomplishment, 
his spirit, hovering over our heads, in more 
than echoes talks around these walls. It re- 
peats the prayer which from his lips fifty years 
ago was at once a parting blessing and a pro- 
phecy; for, were it possible for the whole hu- 
man race, now breathing the breath of life, to 
he assembled within this hall, your orator 



56 



GILBERT MOTTIER DE LAFAYETTE. 



would, in your name and in that of your consti- 
tuents, appeal to them to testify for your fathers 
of the last generation, that, so far as has de- 
pended upon them, the blessing of Lafayette 
has been prophecy. Yes! this immense tem- 
ple of freedom still stands, a lesson to oppres- 
sors, an example to the oppressed, and a sanc- 
tuary for the rights of mankind. Yes ! with 
the smiles of a benignant Providence, the 
splendor and prosperity of these happy United 
States have illustrated the blessings of their 
government, and, we may humbly hope, have 
rejoiced the departed souls of its founders. For 
the past your fathers and you have been re- 
sponsible. The charge of the future devolves 
upon you and upon your children. The vestal 
fire of freedom is in your custody. May the 
souls of its departed founders never be called 
to witness its extinction by neglect, nor a soil 
upon the purity of its keepers! 

With this valedictory, Lafayette took, as he 
and those who heard him then believed, a final 
leave of the people of the United States. He 
returned to France, and arrived at Paris on the 
25th of January, 1785, 

He continued to take a deep interest in the 
concerns of the United States, and exerted his 
influence with theFrench government to obtain 
reductions of duties favorable to their commerce 
and fisheries. In the summer of 17S6, he visit- 
ed several of the German courts, and attended 
the last great review by Frederick the Second 
of his veteran army — a review unusually splen- 
did, and specially remarkable by the attend- 
ance of many of the most distinguirshed mili- 
tary commanders of Europe. In the same year 
the Legislature of Virginia manifested the con- 
tinued recollection of his services rendered to 
the people of that commonwealth, by a compli- 
mentary token of gratitude not less honorable 
than it was unusual. They resolved that two 
busts of Lafayette, to be executed by the cele- 
brated sculptor, Houdon, should be procured at 
their expense; that one of them should be 
placed in their own legislative hall, and the 
other presented, in their name, to the municipal 
authorities of the city of Paris. It was ac- 
cordingly presented by Mr. Jefferson, then 
Minister Plenipotentiary of the United Slates 
in France, and, by the permission of Louis the 
Sixteenth, was accepted, and, with appropriate 
solemnity, placed in one of the halls of the 
Hotel de Ville of the metropolis of France. 



We have gone through one stage of the life 
of Lafayette: we are now to see him acting 
upon another theatre — in a cause still essen- 
tially the same, but in the application of its 
principles to his own country. 

The immediately originating question which 
occasioned theFrench Revolution was the same 
with that from which the American Revolution 
had sprung — taxation of the people without 
their consent. For nearly two centuries the 
kings of France had been accustomed to levy 
taxes upon the people by royal ordinances. 
But it was necessary that these ordinances 
should be registered in the parliaments or judi- 
cial tribunals ; and these parliaments claimed 
the right of remonstrating against them, and 
sometimes refused the registry of them itself. 
The members of the parliaments held their of- 
fices by purchase, but were appointed by the 
king, and were subject to banishment or impri- 
sonment, at his pleasure. Louis the Fifteenth, 
towards the close of his reign, had abolished 
the parliaments, but they had been restored at 
the accession of his successor. 

The finances of the kingdom were in extreme 
disorder. The minister, or comptroller general, 
De Calonne, after attempting various projects 
for obtaining the supplies, the amount and need 
of which he was with lavish hand daily increas- 
ing, bethought himself, at last, of calling for 
the counsel of others. He prevailed upon the 
king to convoke, not the states general, but an 
assembly of notables. There was something ri- 
diculous in the very name by which this meeting 
was called, but it consisted of a selection from 
all the grandees and dignitaries of the kingdom. 
The two brothers of the king — all the princes 
of the blood, archbishops, and bishops, dukes 
and peers — the chancellor and presiding mem- 
bers of the parliaments; distinguished mem- 
bers of the noblesse, and the mayors and chief 
magistrates of a few of the principal cities of 
the kingdom, constituted this assembly. It 
was a representation of every interest but that 
of the people. They were appointed by the 
king — were members of the highest aristocracy, 
and were assembled with !;.e design that their 
deliberations should be confined exclusively to 
' the subjects submitted to their consideration by 
i the minister. These were certain plans devis- 
ed by him for replenishing the insolvent trea- 
sury, by assessments upon the privileged class- 
ics, the very princes, nobles, ecclesiastics, and 



GILBERT MOTTIER DE LAFAYETTE. 



57 



magistrates exclusively represented in the as- 
sembly itself. 

Of this meeting the Marquis de Lafayette 
was a member. It was held in February, 1787, 
and terminated in the overthrow and banishment 
of the minister by whom it had been convened. 
In the fiscal concerns which absorbed the care 
and attention of others, Lafayette took compa- 
ratively little interest. His views were more 
comprehensive. 

The assembly consisted of one hundred and 
thirty-seven persons, and divided itself into 
seven sections or bureaux, each presided by a 
prince of the blood. Lafayette was allotted to 
the division under the presidency of the Count 
d'Artois, the younger brother of the king, and 
since known as Charles the Tenth. The pro- 
positions made by Lafayette were — 

1. The suppression of Letters de Cachet, 
and the abolition of all arbitrary imprisonment. 

2. The establishment of religious toleration, 
and the restoration of the protestanls to their 
civil rights. 

3. The convocation of a national assembly, re- 
presenting the people of France — personal liber- 
ty — religious liberty — and a representative as- 
sembly of the people. These were his demands. 

The first and second of them produced, per- 
haps, at the time, no deep impression upon the 
assembly, nor upon the public. Arbitrary im- 
prisonment, and the religious persecution of the 
protestanls had become universally odious. 
They were worn-out instruments, even in the 
hands of those who wielded them. There was 
none to defend them. 

But the demand for a national assembly start- 
led the prince at the head of the bureau. What! 
said the Count d'Artois, do you ask for the 
states general 1 Yes, Sir, was the answer of 
Lafayetts, and for something yet better. You 
desire, then, replied the prince, that I should 
take in writing, and report to the king, that the 
motion to convoke the states general has been 
made by the Marquis de Lafayette 1 "Yes, 
Sir ;" and the name of Lafayette was accord- 
ingly reported to the king. 

The assembly of notables was dissolved — 
De Calonne was displaced and banished, and 
his successor undertook to raise the needed 
funds, by the authority of royal edicts. The war 
of litigation with the parliaments recommenced, 
which terminated only with a positive promise 
that the states general should be convoked. 



From that time a total revolution of govern- 
ment in France was in progress. It has been a 
solemn, a sublime, often a most painful, and 
yet, in the contemplation of great results, are- 
freshing and cheering contemplation. I cannot 
follow it in its overwhelming multitude of de- 
tails, even as connected with the life and cha- 
racter of Lafayette. A second assembly of 
notables succeeded the first; and then an as- 
sembly of the states general, first to deliberate 
in separate orders of clergy, nobility, and third 
estate ; but, finally, constituting itself a national 
assembly, and forming a constitution of limited 
monarchy, with an hereditary royal executive, 
and a legislature in a single assembly repre- 
senting the people. 

Lafayette was a member of the states gene- 
ral first assembled. Their meeting was signa- 
lized by a struggle between the several orders 
of which they were composed, which resulted 
in breaking them all down into one national 
assembly. 

The convocation of the states general had, in 
one respect, operated, in the progress of the 
French Revolution, like the Declaration of In- 
dependence in that of North America. It had 
changed the question in controversy. It was, 
on the part of the King of France, a concession 
that he had no lawful power to tax the people 
without their consent. The states general, 
therefore, met with this admission already con- 
ceded by the king. In the American conflict 
the British government never yielded the con- 
cession. They undertook to maintain their 
supposed right of arbitrary taxation by force; 
and then the people of the colonies renounced 
all community of government, not only with 
the king and parliament, but with the British 
nation. They reconstructed the fabric of go- 
vernment for themselves, and held the people 
of Britain as foreigners — friends in peace — ene- 
mies in war. 

The concession by Louis the Sixteenth, im- 
plied in the convocation of the states general, 
was a virtual surrender of absolute power — an 
acknowledgment that, as exercised by himself 
and his predecessors, it had been usurped. It 
was, in substance, an abdication of his crown. 
There was no power which he exercised as 
King of France, the lawfulness of which was 
not contestable on the same principle which 
denied him the right of taxation. When the 
assembly of the states general met at Versailles, 



58 



GILBERT MOTTIER DE LAFAYETTE, 



in May, 1789, there was but a shadow of the 
royal authority left. They felt that the power 
of the nation was in their hands, and they were 
not sparing in the use of it. The representa- 
tives of the third estates, double in numbers to 
those of the clergy and the nobility, constituted 
themselves a national assembly, and, as a sig- 
nal for the demolition of all privileged orders, 
refused to deliberate in separate chambers, and 
thus compelled the representatives of the clergy 
and nobility to merge their separate existence 
in the general mass of the popular representa- 
tion. 

Thus the edifice of society was to be recon- 
structed in France as it had been in America. 
The king made a feeble attempt to overawe the 
assembly, by calling regiments of troops to 
Versailles, and surrounding with them the hall 
of their meeting. But there was defection in 
the army itself, and even the person of the king 
soon ceased to be at his own disposal. On the 
llihof July, 1789, in the midst of the fermenta- 
tion which had succeeded the fall of the monar- 
chy and while the assembly was surrounded by 
armed soldiers, Lafayette presented to them his 
Declaration of Rights — the first declaration of 
human rights ever proclaimed in Europe. It 
was adopted, and became the basis of that 
which the assembly promulgated with their 
constitution. 

It was in this hemisphere, and in our own 
country, that all its principles had been imbib- 
ed. At the very moment when the Declaration 
was presented, the convulsive struggle between 
the expiring monarchy and the new-born but 
portentous anarchy of the Parisian populace 
was taking place. The royal palace and the 
hall of the assembly were surrounded with 
troops, and insurrection was kindling at Paris. 
In the midst of the popular commotion, a depu- 
tation of sixty members, with Lafayette at their 
head, was sent from the assembly to tranquil- 
lize the people of Paris, and that incident was 
the occasion of the institution of the National 
Guard throughout the realm, and of the appoint- 
ment, with the approbation of the king, of La- 
layette as their general commander-in-chief. 

This event, without vacating his seat in the 
national assembly, connected him at once with 
the military and the popular movement of the 
revolution. The National Guard was the arm- 
ed militia of the whole kingdom, embodied for 
the preservation of order, and the protection of 



persons and property, as well as for the esta- 
blishment of the liberties of the people. In 
his double capacity of commander-general of 
this force, and of a representative in the con- 
stituent assembly, his career, for a period of 
more than three years, was beset with the most 
imminent dangers, and with difficulties beyond 
ail human power to surmount. 

The ancient monarchy of France had crum- 
bled into ruins. A national assembly, formed 
by an irregular representation of clergy, nobles, 
and third estate, after melting at the fire of a 
revolution into one body, had transformed itself 
into a constituent assembly representing the 
people, had assumed the exercise of all the 
powers of government extorted from the hands 
of the king, and undertaken to form a constitu- 
tion for the French nation, founded at once 
upon the theory of human rights, and upon the 
preservation of a royal hereditary crown upon 
the head of Louis the Sixteenth. Lafayette 
sincerely believed that such a system would not 
be absolutely incompatible with the nature of 
things. An hereditary monarchy, surrounded 
by popular institutions, presented itself to his 
imagination as a practicable form of govern- 
ment; nor is it certain that even to his last days 
he ever abandoned this persuasion. The ele» 
ment of hereditary monarchy in this constitu- 
tion was indeed not congenial to it. The pro- 
totype from which the whole fabric had been 
drawn, had no such element in its composition. 
A feeling of generosity, of compassion, of com- 
miseration with the unfortunate prince then 
upon the throne, who had been his sovereign, 
and for his ill-fated family, mingled itself, per- 
haps unconsciously to himself, with his well- 
reasoned faith in the abstract principles of a 
republican creed. The total abolition of the 
monarchical feature undoubtedly belonged to his 
theory, but the family of Bourbon had still a 
strong hold on the aflfiections of the French 
people; history had not made up a record favor- 
able to the establishment of elective kings — a 
strong executive head was absolutely neces- 
sary to curb the impetuosities of the people of 
France; and the same doctrine which played 
upon the fancy, and crept upon the kind-heart- 
ed benevolence of Lafayette, was adopted by a 
large majority of the national assembly, sanc- 
tioned by the suffrages of its most intelligent, 
virtuous, and patriotic members, and was finally 
embodied in that royal democracy the result of 



GILBERT MOTTIER DE LAFAYETTE 



59 



their labors, sent forth to the world, under the legislative assembly, elected to carry it into 



guaranty of numberless oaths, as the Consti- 
tution of France for all aftertime. 

But, during the same period, after the first 
meeting of the states general, and while they 



execution. 

The movements of the insurgent power were 
occasionallyconvulsive and cruel, without miti- 
gation or mercy. Guided by secret springs; 



were in actual conflict with the expiring ener- prompted by vindictive and sanguinary ambi- 
gies of the crown, and with the exclusive pri- lion, directed by hands unseen to objects of 
vileges of the clergy and nobility, another por- individual aggrandizement, its agency fell like 
lentous power had arisen, and entered with the thunderbolt, and swept like the whirlwind, 
terrific activity into the controversies of the The proceedings of the assemblies were de- 
time. This was the power of popular insur- liberative and intellectual. They began by 
reclion, organized by voluntary associations of grasping at the whole power of the monarchy, 
clubs, and impelled to action by the municipal , and they finished by sinking under the dicta- 



authorities of the city of Paris. 
The first movements of the people in the 



tion of the Parisian populace. The constituent 
assembly numbered among its members many 



state of insurrection took place on the I2th of individuals of great ability, and of pure prin- 
July, 1789, and issued in the destruction of the ^ ciples, but they were over-awed and doraineer- 
Bastile, and in the murder of its governor, and j ed by that other representation of the people 
of several other persons, hung up at lampposts, ; of France, which, through the instrumentality 
or torn to pieces by the frenzied multitude, i of the jacobin club, and the municipality of 
without form of trial, and without shadow of Paris, disconcerted the wisdom of the wise, 
guilt. and scattered to the winds the counsels of the 

The Bastile had long been odious as the I prudent, 
place of confinement of persons arrested by It was impossible that, under the perturba- 
arbitrary orders for offences against the govern- tions of such a controlling power, a constitution 
ment, and its destruction was hailed by most of suited to the character and circumstances of the 
the friends of liberty throughout the world as nation should be formed. 

an act of patriotism and magnanimity on the Through the whole of this period, the part 
part of the people. The brutal ferocity of the performed by Lafayette was without parallel 
murders was overlooked or palliated in the in history. The annals of the human race ex- 
glory of the achievement of razing to its foun- ' hibit no other instance of a position comparable 
dations the execrated citadel of despotism, i for its unintermitted perils, its deep responsi- 
But, as the summary justice of insurrection ' bilities, and its providential issues, with that 
can manifest itself only by destruction, the which he occupied as commander-general of 
example once set became a precedent for a se- the national guard, and as a leading member of 
ries of years for scenes so atrocious, and for the constituent assembly. In the numerous 
butcheries so merciless and horrible, that me- insurrections of the people, he saved the lives 
mory revolts at the task of recalling them to the | of multitudes devoted as victims, and always 
mind. ! at the most imminent hazard of his own. On 

It would be impossible, within the compass j the 5th and 6th of October, 1789, he saved the 
of this discourse, to follow the details of the lives of Louis the Sixteenth, and of his queen. 
French Revolution to the final dethronement of I He escaped, time aftertime the daggers charged 
Louis the Sixteenth, and the extinction of the ' by princely conspiracy on one hand, and by 



constitutional monarchy of France, on the 10th 
of August, 1792. During that period, the two 
distinct powers were in continual operation — 
sometimes in concert with each other, some- 
times at irreconcilable opposition. Of these 
powers, one was the people of FraRce, repre- 
sented by the Parisian populace in insurrection; 
the otiier was the people of France, represented 
successively by the constituentassembly, which 
formed the constitution of 1791, and by the 



popular frenzy on the other. He witnessed, 
too, without being able to prevent it, the butch- 
ery of Foulon before his eyes; and the reeking 
heart of Berthier, torn from his lifeless trunk, 
wa.? held up in exulting triumph before him. 
On this occasion, and on another, he threw up 
his commission as commander of the national 
guards; but who could have succeeded him, 
even with equal power to restrain these volcanic 
excesses'? At the earnest solicitation of those 



60 



GILBERT MOTTIER DE LAFAYETTE. 



who well knew that his place could never be 
supplied, he resumed and continued in the com- 
mand until the solemn proclamation of the 
constitution, upon which he definitely laid it 
down, and retired to private life upon his estate 
in Auvergne, 

As a member of the constituent assembly, it 
is not in the detailed organization of the go- 
vernment which they prepared, that his spirit 
and co-operaiion is to be traced. It is in the 
principles which he proposed and infused into 
the system. As, at the first assembly of nota- 
bles, his voice had been raised for the abolition 
of arbitrary imprisonment, for the extinction of 
religious intolerance, and for the representation 
of the people, so, in the national assembly, be- 
sides the Declaration of Rights, which formed 
the basis of the constitution itself, he made or 
supported the motions for the establishment of 
trial by jury, for the gradual emancipation of 
slaves, for the freedom of the press, for the 
abolition of all titles of nobility, and for the 
declaration of equality of all the citizens, and 
the suppression of all the privileged orders, 
without exception of the piinces of the royal 
family. Thus while as a legislator be was 
spreading the principles of universal liberty 
over the whole surface of the State, as com- 
mander-in chief of the armed force of the nation 
he was controlling, repressing, and mitigating, 
as far as it could be effected by human power, 
the excesses of the people. 

The constitution was at length proclaimed, 
and the constituent national assembly was dis- 
solved. In advance of this event, the sublime 
spectacle of the Federation was exhibited on 
the 14lh of July, 1790, the first anniversary of 
the destruction of the Bastile. There was an 
ingenious and fanciful association of ideas in 
the selection of that day. The Bastile was a 
state prison, a massive structure, which had 
stood four hundred years, every stone of which 
was saturated with sighs and tears, and echoed 
the groans of four centuries of oppression. It 
was the very type and emblem of the despotism 
^^hich had so lorg weighed upon France. De- 
molished from its summit to its foundation at 
the first shout of freedom from the people, what 
day could be more appropriate than its anniver- 
sary for the day of solemn consecration of the 
new fabric of government, founded upon the 
rights of man ■? 

I shall not describe the magnificent and me- 



lancholy pageant of that day .It has been done 
by abler hands, and in a style which could 
only be weakened and diluted by repetition.* 
The religious solemnity of the mass was per- 
formed by a prelate, then eminent among the 
members of the assembly and the dignitaries of 
the land ; still eminent, after surviving the 
whole circle of subsequent revolutions. No 
longer a father of the church, but among the 
most distinguished laymen and most celebrated 
statesmen of France, ^is was the voice to invoke 
the blessing of heaven upon this new constitu- 
tion for his liberated co«fi/ry,- and he and Louis 
the Sixteenth, and Lafayette, and thirty thou- 
sand delegates from all the confederated na- 
tional guards of the kingdom, in the presence 
of Almighty God, and of five hundred thousand 
of their countrymen, took the oath of fidelity 
to the nation, to the constitution, and all, save 
the monarch himself, to the king. His corre- 
sponding oath was, of fidelity to discharge the 
duties of his high office, and to the people. 

Alas! and was it all false and hollow T had 
these oaths no more substance than the breath 
that ushered them to the winds 1 It is impos- 
sible to look back upon the short and turbulent 
existence of this royal democracy, to mark the 
frequent paroxysms of popular frenzy by which 
it was assailed, and the catastrophe by which 
it perished, and to believe that the vows of all 
who swore to support it were sincere. But as 
well might the sculptor of a block of marble, 
after exhausting his genius and his art in giv- 
ing it a beautiful human form, call God to wit- 
ness that it shall perform all the functions of 
animal life, as the constituent assembly of 
France could pledge the faith of its members 
that their royal demociacy should work as a 
permanent organized form of government. The 
Declaration of Kights contained all the princi- 
ples essential to freedom. The frame of go- 
vernment was radically and irreparably defec- 
tive. The hereditary royal executive was 
itself an inconsistency with the Declaration of 
Rights. The legislative power, all concen- 
trated in a single assembly, was an incongruity 
still more glaring. These were both depar- 
tures from the system of organization which 
Lafayette had witnessed in the American con- 
stitutions: neither of them was approved by 
Lafayette. In deference to the prevailing opi- 

• In the address to the young men of Boston, by Edward 
Everett. 



GILBERT MOTTIER DE LAFAYETTE. 



61 



nions and prejudices of the times, he acquiesced 
in them, and he was destined to incur the most 
imminent hazards of his life, and to make the 
sacrifice of all that gives value to life itself, in 
faithful adherence to that constitution which he 
had sworn to support. 

Shortly after his resignation, as commander- 
general of the national guards, the friends of 
liberty and order presented him as a candidate 
for election as mayor of Paris; but he had a 
competitor in the person of Pethion, more 
suited to the party, pursuing ,with inexorable 
rancor the abolition of the monarchy and the 
destruction of the king; and, what may seem 
scarcely credible, the remnant of the party 
which still adhered to the king, the king him- 
self, and above all, the queen, favored the elec- 
tion of the Jacobin, Pethion, in preference to 
that of Lafayette. They were, too fatally for 
themselves, successful. 

From the first meeting of the legislative as- 
sembly, under the constitution of 1791, the 
destruction of the king and of the monarchy, 
and the establishment of a republic, by means 
of the popular passions and of popular violence, 
were the deliberate purposes of its leading 
members. The spirit with which the revolu- 
tion had been pursued, from the time of the 
destruction of the Bastile, had caused the emi- 
gration of great numbers of the nobility and 
clergy; and, among them, of the two brothers 
of Louis the Sixteenth, and of several other 
princes of his blood. They had applied to all 
the other great monarchies of Europe for as- 
sistance to uphold or restore the crumbling 
monarchy of France. The French reformers 
themselves, in the heal of their political fanat- 
icism avowed, without disguise, the design to 
revolutionize all Europe, and had emissaries in 
every country, openly or secretly preaching the 
doctrine of insurrection against all established 
governments. Louis the Sixteenth, and his 
queen, an Austrian princess, sister to the Em- 
peror Leopold, were in secret negotiation with 
the Austrian government for the rescue of the 
king and royal family of France from the dan- 
gers with which they were so incessantly beset. 
In the Electorate of Treves, a part of the Ger- 
manic Empire, the emigrants from France were 
assembling, with indications of a design to 
enter France in hostile array, to efTect a coun- 
ter-revolution; and the brothers of the king, 
assuming a position at Coblentz, on the borders 
6 



of their country, were holding councils, the 
object of which was to march in arms to Paris, 
to release the king from captivity, and to re- 
store the ancient monarchy to the dominion 
of absolute power. 

The king, who even before his forced ac- 
ceptance of the constitution of 1791, had made 
an unsuccessful attempt to escape from his 
palace prison, was in April, 1792, reduced to 
the humiliating necessity of declaring war 
against the very sovereigns who were arming 
their nations to rescue him from his revolted 
subjects. Three armies, each of fifty thousand 
men, were levied to meet the emergencies of 
this war, and were placed under the command 
of Luckner, Rochambeau, and Lafayette. As 
he passed through Paris to go and take the 
command of his army, he appeared before the 
legislative assembly, the piesideni of which, 
in addressing him, said that the nation would 
oppose to their enemies the constitution and 
Lafayette. 

But the enemies to the constitution were 
within the walls. At this distance of time, 
when most of the men, and many of the pas- 
sions of those days, have passed away, when 
the French Revolution, and its results, should 
be regarded with the searching eye of philoso- 
phical speculation, as lessons of experience to 
after ages, may it even now be permitted to 
remark how much the virtues and the crin?.es 
of men, in times of political convulsion, are 
modified and characterized by the circumstances 
in which they are placed. The great actors of 
the tremendous scenes of revolution of those 
times were men educated in schools of high 
civilization, and in the humane and benevolent 
precepts of the Christian religion. A small 
portion of them were vicious and depraved ; 
but the great majority were wound up to mad- 
ness by that war of conflicting interests and 
absorbing passions, enkindled by a great con- 
vulsion of the social system. It has been said, 
by a great master of human nature, — 

" In peace, there's nothing so becomes a man 
As modest stillness and humility ; 
But when the blast of war blows in your ears, 
Then imitate the action of the tiger." 

Too faithfully did the people of France, and 
the leaders of their factions, in that war of all 
the political elements, obey that injunction. 



62 



GILBERT MOTTIER DE LAFAYETTE. 



Who, that lived in that day, can remember? 
who, since born, can read, or bear to be told, 
the horrors of the 20ih of June, the lOlh of 
August, the 2d and 3d of September, 1792, of 
the Slst of May, 1793, and of a multitude of 
others, during which, in dreadful succession, 
the murderers of one day were the victims of 
the next, until that, when the insurgent popu- 
lace themselves were shot down by thousands, 
in the very streets of Paris, by the military 
legions of the convention, and the rising for- 
tune and genius of Napoleon Bonaparte? 
Who can remember, or read, or hear, of all this, 
without shuddering at the sight of man, his 
fellow-creature, in the drunkenness of political 
frenzy, degrading himself beneath the condition 
of the cannibal savage? beneath even the con- 
dition of the wild beast of the desert? and who, 
but with a feeling of deep mortification, can 
reflect, that the rational and immortal being, to 
the race of which he himself belongs, should, 
even in his most palmy elate of intellectual 
cultivation, be capable of this self-transforma- 
tion to brutality? 

In this dissolution of all the moral elements 
which regulate the conduct of men in their 
social condition — in this monstrous, and scarce- 
ly conceivable spectacle of a king, at the head 
of a mighty nation, in secret league with the 
enemies against whom he has proclaimed him- 
self at war, and of a legislature conspiring to 
destroy the king and constitution to which 
ihey have sworn allegiance and support, La- 
fayette alone is seen to preserve his fidelity to 
the king, to the constitution, and to his country, 

" Unshaken, unseduced, unterrified, 
His loyalty he kept, his love, his zeal." 

On the 16ih of June, 1792, four days before 
the first violation of the palace of the Tuille- 
ries by the populace of Paris, at the instigation 
of the jacobins, Lafayette, in a letter to the le- 
gislative assembly, had denounced the jacobin 
clubs, and called upon the assembly to suppress 
them. He afterwards repaired to Paris in per- 
son, presented himself at the bar of the assem- 
bly, repeated his denunciation of the clubs, and 
took measures for suppressing their meetings 
by force. He proposed also to the king him- 
self to furnish him with means of withdrawing 
with his family to Compiegne, where he would 
have been out of the reach of that ferocious 



and blood-thirsty multitude. The assembly, by 
a great majority of votes, sustained the princi- 
ples of his letter, but the king declined his 
proffered assistance to enable him to withdraw 
from Paris ; and of those upon whom he called 
to march with him, and shut up the hall where 
the jacobins held their meetings, not more than 
thirteen persons presented themselves at the 
appointed time. 

He returned to his army, and became thence- 
forth the special object of jacobin resentir.ent 
and revenge. On the 8th of August, on a pre- 
liminary measure to the intended insurrection 
of the 10th, the question was taken, after seve- 
ral days of debate, upon a formal motion that 
he should be put in accusation and tried. The 
last remnant of freedom in that assembly was 
then seen by the vote upon nominal appeal, or 
yeas and nays, in which four hundred and forty- 
six votes were for rejecting the charge, and 
only two hundred and twenty-four for sustain- 
ing it. Two days after, the Tuilleries were 
stormed by popular insurrection. The unfor- 
tunate king was compelled to seek refuge, with 
his family, in the hall of the legislative as- 
sembly, and escaped from being torn to pieces 
by an infuriated muliitude, only to pass from 
his palace to the prison, in his way to the 
scaffold. 

This revolution, thus accomplished, annihi- 
lated the constitution, the government, and the 
cause for which Lafayette had contended. The 
people of France, by their acquiescence, a great 
portion of them by direct approval, confirmed 
and sanctioned the abolition of the monarchy. 
The armies and their commanders took the 
same victorious side: not a show of resistance 
was made to the revolutionary torrent, not an 
arm was lifted to restore the fallen monarch to 
his throne, nor even to rescue or protect his 
person from the fury of his inexorable foes. 
Lafayette himself would have marched to Pa- 
ris with his army for the defence of the consti- 
tution, but in this disposition he was not se- 
conded by his troops. After ascertaining that 
the effort would be vain, and after arresting at 
j Sedan the members of the deputation from the 
I legislative assembly, sent, after their own sub- 
jjugalion, to arrest him, he determined, as the 
' only expedient left him to save his honor and 
i his principles, to withdraw both from the army 
and the country ; to pass into a neutral terri 
tory, and thence into these United States, tb« 



GILBERT MOTTIER DE LAFAYETTE 



63 



country of his early adoption and his fond par- 
tiality, where he was sure of finding a safe 
asylum, and of meeting a cordial welcome. 

But his destiny had reserved him for other 
and severer trials. We have seen him strug- 
gling for the support of principles, against the 
violence of raging factions, and the fickleness 
, of the muliitude ; we are now to behold him 
in the hands of the hereditary rulers of man- 
kind, and to witness the nature of their ten- 
der mercies to him. 

It was in the neutral territory of Liege that 
he, together with his companions, Latour Mau- 
bourg, Bureau de Puzy, and Alexandre La- 
meth, was taken by Austrians, and transferred 
to Prussian guards. Under the circumstances 
of the case, he could not, by the principles of 
the law of nations, be treated even as a prison- 
er of war. He was treated as a prisoner of 
state. Prisoners of state in the monarchies of 
Europe are always presumed guilty, and are 
treated as if entitled as little to mercy as to 
justice. Lafayette was immured in dungeons, 
first at Wesel, then at Magdeburg, and finally 
at Olmutz, in Moravia. Bywhatrightl By 
none known among men. By what authority ? 
That has never been avowed. For what cause? 
None has ever been assigned. Taken by Aus- 
trian soldiers upon a neutral territory, handed 
over to Prussian jailors ; and, when Frederick 
William of Prussia abandoned his Austrian 
ally, and made his separate peace with repub- 
lican France, he retransferred his illustrious 
prisoner to the Austrians, from whom he had 
received him, that he might be deprived of the 
blessing of regaining his liberty, even from the 
hands of peace. Five years was the duration of 
this imprisonment, aggravated by every indig- 
nity that could make oppression bitter. That it 
was intended as imprisonment for life, was not 
only freely avowed, but significantly made 
known to him by his jailors ; and while, with 
affected precaution, the means of terminating 
his sufferings by his own act were removed 
from him, the barbarity of ill-usage, of un- 
wholesome food, and of a pestiferous atmos- 
phere, was applied with inexorable rigor, as if 
to abridge the days which, at the same time, 
were rendered as far as possible insupportable 
to himself. 

Neither the generous sympathies of the gal- 
lant soldier, General Fitzpatrick, in the British 
House of Commons, nor the personal solicita- 



tion of Washington, President of the United 
States, speaking with the voice of a grateful 
nation, nor the persuasive accents of domestic 
and conjugal affection, imploring the monarch 
of Austria for the release of Lafayette, could 
avail. The unsophisticated feeling of generous 
nature in the hearts of men, at this outrage 
upon justice and humanity, was manifested in 
another form. Two individuals, private citi- 
zens, one of the United States of America, 
Francis Huger, the other a native of the Elec- 
torate of Hanover, Doctor Erick Bollmann, un- 
dertook, at the imminent hazard of their lives, 
to supply means for his escape from prison, 
and their personal aid to its accomplishment. 
Their design was formed with great address, 
pursued with untiring perseverance, and exe- 
cuted with undaunted intrepidity. It was frus- 
trated by accidents beyond the control of 
human sagacity. 

To his persecutions, however, the hand of a 
wise and just Providence had, in its own time 
and in its own way, prepared a termination. 
The hands of the Emperor Francis, tied by 
mysterious and invisible bands against the 
indulgence of mercy to the tears of a more than 
heroic wife, were loosened by the more pre- 
vailing eloquence, or rather were severed by 
the conquering sword of Napoleon Bonaparte, 
acting under instructions from the executive 
directory, then swaying the destinies of France. 

Lafayette and hie fellow-sufferers were still 
under the sentence of proscription issued by 
the faction which had destroyed the constitu- 
tion of 1791, and murdered the ill-fated Louis 
and his queen. But revolution had followed 
upon revolution since the downfall of the mon- 
archy, on the 10th of August, 1792. The fede- 
rative republicans of the Gironde had been 
butchered by the jacobin republicans of the 
mountain. The mountain had been subjugated 
by the municipality of Paris, and the sections 
of Paris, by a reorganization of parties in the 
national convention, and with aid from the 
armies. Brissot and his federal associates, 
Danton and his party, Robespierre and his 
subaltern demons, had successively perished, 
each by the measure applied to themselves 
which they had meted out to others ; and as no 
experiment of political empiricism was to be 
omitted in the medley of the French Revolu- 
tions, the hereditary executive, with a single 
legislative assembly, was succeeded by a con- 



64 



GILBERT MOTTIER DE LAFAYETTE. 



stitution with a legislature in two branches, and 
a five-headed executive, eligible, annually one- 
fifth, by their concurrent votes, and bearing the 
name of a directory. This was the government 
at whose instance Lafayette was finally libe- 
rated from the dungeon of Olmutz. 

But, while this directory were shaking to 
their deepest foundations all the monarchies of 
Europe ; while they were stripping Austria, 
the most potent of them all, piecemeal of her 
territories ; while they were imposing upon her 
the most humiliating conditions of peace, and 
bursting open her dungeons to restore their 
illustrious countrymen to the light of day and 
the blessing of personal freedom, they were 
themselves exploding by internal combustion, 
divided into two factions, each conspiring the 
destruction of the other. Lafayette received his 
freedom, only to see the two members of the 
directory, who had taken the warmest interest 
in effecting his liberation, outlawed and pro- 
scribed by their colleagues : one of them, Car- 
not, a fugitive from his country, lu:king in 
banishment to escape pursuit; and the oiher, 
Barihelemy, deported with fifty members of the 
legislative assembly, without form of trial or 
even of legal process, to the pestilential cli- 
mate of Gaiana. All this wan done with the 
approbation, expressed in the most unqualified 
terms, of Napoleon, and with co-operation of 
his army. Upon bein^- informed of the success 
of this pride's purge, he wrote to the directoiy 
that he had with him one hundred thousand 
men, upon whom they mis^ht rely to cause to 
be respected all the measures that they should 
take to establish liberty upon solid foundations. 

Two years afterwards another revolution, 
directly accomplished by Napoleon himself, 
demolished the directory, the constitution of 
the two councils, and the solid liberty, to the 
support of which the hundred thousand naen 
had been pledged, and introduced another con- 
stitution with Bonaparte himself for its execu- 
tive head, as the first of three consuls, for five 
years. 

In the interval between thesetworevolutions, 
Lafayette resided for about two years, first in 
the Danish territory of Holstein, and afterwards 
at Utrecht, in the Batavian Republic. Neither 
of ihem had been elTected by means or in a 
manner which could possibly meet his appro- 
bation. But the consular government com- 
menced with broad profeseions of republican 



principles, on the faith ofwhich he returned to 
France, and for a series of years resided in 
privacy and retirement upon his estate of La 
Grange. Here, in the cultivation of his farm, 
and the enjoyment of domestic felicity, embit- 
tered only by the loss, in 1807, of that angel 
upon earth, the partner of all the vicissitudes 
of his life, he employed his time, and witnessed 
the upward flight and downward fall of the 
' soldier and sport of fortune. Napoleon Bona- 
! parte. He had soon perceived the hollowness 
' of the consular professions of pure republican 
principles, and withheld himself from all par- 
' ticipation in the government. In 1802, he was 
elected a nnember of the general council of the 
department of Upper Loire, and in declining 
the appointment, took occasion to present a 
review of his preceding life, and a pledge of 
I his perseverance in the principles which he had 
previously sustained. " Far," said he, " from 
the scene of public affairs, and devoting myself 
at last to the repose of private life, my ardent 
wishes are, that external peace should soon 
prove thefruit of those miracles of glory which 
are even now surpassing the prodigies of the 
preceding campaigns, and that internal peace 
should be consolidated upon the essential and 
invariable foundations of true liberty. Happy 
that twenty-three years of vicissitudes in my 
fortune, and of constancy to my principles, 
authorize me to repeat, that if a nation, to reco- 
ver its rights, needs only the will, they can 
only be preserved by inflexible fidelity to its 
obligations." 

When the first consulate for five years was 
invented as one of the steps of the ladder of 
Napoleon's ambition, he suffered Sieyes, the 
member of the directory whom he had used as 
an instrument for casting ofl^ that worse than 
worthless institution, to prepare another consti- 
tution, of which he took as much as suited his 
purpose, and consigned the rest to oblivion. 
One of the wheels of this new political engine 
was a conservative senate, forming the peerage 
to sustain the executive head. This body it was 
the interest and the policy of Napoleon to con- 
ciliate, and he filled it with men who, through 
all the previous stages of the revolution, had 
acquired and maintained the highest respecta- 
bility of character. Lafayette was urged with 
great earnestness, by Napoleon himself, to 
take a seat in this senate ; but, after several 
conferences with the first consul, in which he 



GILBERT MOTTIER DE LAFAYETTE, 



65 



ascertained the extent of his designs, he pe- 
remptorily declined. His answer to the minister 
of war tempered his refusal with a generous 
and delicate compliment, alluding at the same 
time to the position which the consistency of 
his character made it his duty to occupy. To 
the first consul himself, in terms equally candid 
and explicit, he said, " that, from the direction 
which public affairs were taking, what he 
already saw, and what it was easy to foresee, 
it did not seem suitable to his character to enter 
into an order of things contrary to his princi- 
ples, and in which he would have to contend 
without success, as without public utility, 
against a man to whom he was indebted for 
great obligations." 

Not long afterwards, when all republican 
principle was so utterly prostrated that he was 
summoned to vote on the question whether the 
citizen Napoleon Bonaparte should be consul 
for life, Lafayette added to his vote the follow- 
ingr comment : " I cannot vote for such a ma- 
gistracy until the public liberty shall have been 
sufficiently guarantied ; and in that event I vote 
for Napoleon Bonaparte." 

He wrote at the same time to the first consul 
a letter explanatory of his vote, which no re- 
publican will now read without recognising 
the image of inordinate and triumphant ambi- 
tion cowering under the rebuke of disinterested 
virtue. 

'« The 18th of Brumaire, [said this letter,] 
saved France ; and I felt myself recalled by the 
liberal professions to which you had attached 
your honor. Since then, we have seen in the 
consular power that reparatory dictatorship 
which, under the auspices of your genius, has 
achieved so much ; yet not so much as will he the 
restoration of liberty. It is impossible that you, 
general, the first of that order of men who, to 
compare and seat themselves, take in the com- 
pass of all ages, that you should wish such a 
revolution — so many victories, so much blood, 
so many calamities and prodigies, should have 
for the world and for you no other result than 
an arbitrary government. The French people 
have too well known their rights ultimately to 
forget them ; but perhaps they are now better 
prepared, than in the time of their effervescence, 
to recover them usefully ; and you, by the force 
of your character, and of the public confidence, 
by the superiority of your talents, of your po- 
sition, of your fortune, may, by the re-estab- 
6* 



lishment of liberty, surmount every danger, and 
relieve every anxiety. I have, then, no other 
than patriotic and personal motives for wishing 
you this last addition to your glory — a perma- 
nent magistracy ; but it is due to the principles, 
the engagements, and the actions of my whole 
life, to wait, before giving my vote, until liber- 
ty shall have been settled upon foundations 
worthy of the nation and of you. I hope, 
general, that you will here find, as heretofore, 
that with the perseverance of my political 
opinions are united sincere good wishes per- 
sonally to you, and a profound sentiment of my 
obligations to you." 

The writer of this letter, and he to whom it 
was addressed, have, each in his appropriate 
sphere, been instruments of transcendant pow- 
er, in the hands of Providence, to shape the 
ends of its wisdom in the wonderful story of 
the French Revolution. In contemplating the 
part which each of them had acted upon that 
great theatre of human destiny, lefore the date 
of the letter, how strange was at that moment 
the relative position of the two individuals to 
each other, and to the world ! Lafayette was 
the founder of the great movement then in pro- 
gress for the establishment of freedom in France, 
and in the European world ; but his agency had 
been all intellectual and moral. He had assert- 
ed and proclaimed the principles. He had 
never violated, never betrayed them. Napo- 
leon, a military adventurer, had vapored in pro- 
clamations, and had the froth of jacobinism 
upon his lips ; but his soul was at the point of 
his sword. The revolution was to Lafayette 
the cause of human kind ; to Napoleon it was 
a mere ladder of ambition. 

Yet, at the time when this letter was writ- 
ten, Lafayette, after a series of immense sacri- 
fices and unparalleled sufferings, was a private 
citizen, called to account to the world for 
declining to vote for placing Napoleon at the 
head of the French nation, with arbitrary and 
indefinite power for life; and Napoleon, amid 
professions of unbounded devotion to liberty, 
was, in the face of mankind, ascending the 
steps of an hereditary imperial and royal throne. 
Such was their relative position then; what is 
it now 1 Has history a lesson for mankind 
more instructive than the contrast and the pa- 
rallel of their fortunes and their fatel Time 
and chance, and the finger of Providence, 
which, in every deviation from the path of jus- 



66 



GILBERT MOTTIER DE LAFAYETTE. 



tice, reserves or opens to itself an avenue of 
return, has brought each of these mighty men 
to a close of life, congenial to the character 
with vfhich ho travelled over its scenos. The 
consul for life, the hereditary emperor and king, 
expires a captive on a barren rock in the wil- 
derness of a distant ocean — separated from his 
imperial wife — separated from his son, who 
survives him only to pine away his existence, 
and die at the moment of manhood, in the con- 
dition of an Austrian prince. The apostle of 
liberty survives, again to come forward, the 
ever-consistent charapionof her cause, and final- 
ly to close his career in peace, a republican, 
without reproach in death, as he had been 
without fear thronghout life. 

But Napoleon was to be the artificer of his 
own fortunes, prosperous and adverse. He was 
rising by the sword ; by the sword he was des- 
tined to fall. The councils of wisdom and of 
virtue fell forceless upon his ear, or sunk into 
his heart only to kindle resentment and hatred. 
He sought no further personal intercourse with 
Lafayette ; and denied common justice to his 
son, who had entered and distinguished himself 
in the army of Italy, and from v/hom he with- 
held the promotion justly due to his services. 

The career of glory, of fame, and of power, 
of which the consulate for life was but the first 
step, was of ten years' continuance, till it had 
reached its zenith ; till the astonished eyes of 
mankind beheld the charity scholar of Brienne, 
emperor, king, and protector of the confedera- 
tion of the Rhine, banqueting at Dresden, 
surrounded by a circle of tributary crowned 
heads, among whom was seen that very Fran- 
cis of Austria, the keeper, in his Castle of 
Olmutz, of the republican Lafayette. And upon 
that day of the banqueting at Dresden, the star 
of Napoleon culminated from the equator. 
Thenceforward it was to descend with motion 
far more rapid than when rising, till it sunk in 
endless night. Through that long period, La- 
fayette remained in retirement at La Grange. 
Silent amidst the deafening shouts of victory 
from Marengo, and Jena, and Austerlitz, and 
Friedland, and Wagram and Borodino — silent 
at the conflagration of Moscow ; at the passage 
of the Beresina ; at the irretrievable discom- 
fiture of Leipzic ; at thecapitulation at the gates 
of Paris, and at the first restoration of the 
Bourbons, under the auspices of the inveterate 
enemies of France— as little could Lafayette 



participate in the measures of that restoration, 
as in the usurpations of Napoleon. Louis the 
Eighteenth was quartered upon the French 
nation as the soldiers of the victorious armies 
were quartered upon the inhabitants of Paris. 
Yet Louis the Eighteenth, who held his crown 
as the gift of the conquerors of France, the 
most humiliating of the conditions imposed 
upon the vanquished nation, afl^ected to hold it 
by divine right, and to grant, as a special favor, 
a charter, or constitution, founded on the avow- 
ed principle that all the liberties of the nation 
were no more than gratuitous donations of the 
king. 

These pretensions, with a corresponding 
course of policy pursued by the reinstated go- 
vernment of the Bourbons, and the disregard 
of the national feelings and interests of France, 
with which Europe was remodelled at the con- 
gress of Vienna, opened the way for the return 
of Napoleon from Elba, within a year from the 
time vi'hen he had been relegated there. He 
landed as a solitary adventurer, and the nation 
rallied around him with rapture. He came with 
promises to the nation of freedom as well as of 
independence. The allies of Vienna proclaim- 
ed ao-ainst him a war of extermination, and 
re-invaded France with armies exceeding in 
numbers a million of men. Lafayette had been 
courted by Napoleon upon his return. He was 
again urged to take his seat in the House of 
Peers, but peremptorily declined, from aver- 
sion to its hereditary character. He had re- 
fused to resume his title of nobility, and pro- 
tested against the constitution of the empire, 
and the additional act entailing the imperial 
hereditary crown upon the family of Napoleon. 
But he offered himself as a candidate for elec- 
tion as a member of the popular representative 
chamber of the Legislature, and was unani- 
mously chosen by the electoral college of his 
department to that station. 

The battle of Waterloo was the last despe- 
rate struggle of Napoleon to recover his fallen 
fortunes, and its issue fixed his destiny for 
ever. He escaped almost alone from the field, 
and returned a fugitive to Paris, projecting to 
dissolve by armed force the legislative assem- 
bly, and, assuming a dictatorial power, to levy 
a new army, and try the desperate chances of 
another battle. This purpose was defeated by 
the energy and promptitude of Lafayette. At 
his instance the assembly adopted three resolu- 



I 



GILBERT MOTTIER DE LAFAYETTE. 



67 



tions, one of which declared them in permanent 
session, and denounced any attempt to dissolve 
them as a crime of high treason. 

After a feeble and fruitless attempt of Napo- 
leon, throuorh his brother Lucien, to obtain from 
the assembly itself a temporary dictatorial 
power, he abdicated the Imperial Crown in 
favor of his infant son; but his abdication 
could not relieve France from the deplorable 
condition to which he had reduced her. France, 
from the day of the battle ot Waterloo, was at 
the mercy of the allied monarchs ; and, as the 
last act of their revenge, they gave her again 
the Bourbons. France was constrained to re- 
ceive them. It was at the point of the bayonet, 
and resistance was of no avail. The legislative 
assembly appointed a provisional council of 
government, and commissioners, of whom La- 
fayette was one, to negotiate with the allied 
armies then rapidly advancing upon Paris. 

The allies manifested no disposition to ne- 
gotiate. They closed the doors of their hall 
upon the representatives of the i)eople of France. 
They reseated Louis the Eighteenth upon his 
throne. Against these measures Lafayette and 
the members of the assembly had no means of re- 
sistance left,savearearless protest, to be remem- 
bered when the day of freedom should return. 
From the time of this second restoration until 
his death, Lafayette, who had declined accept- 
ing a seat in the hereditary chamber of peers, 
and inflexibly refused to resume his title of no- 
bility, though the charter of Louis the Eigh- 
teenth had restored them all, was almost con- 
stantly a member of the chamber of deputies, 
the popular branch of the legislature. More 
than once, however, the influence of the court 
was successful in defeating his election. At 
one of these intervals, he employed the leisure 
afforded him in revisiting the United States. 

Forty years had elapsed since he had visited 
and taken leave of them, at the close of the 
revolutionary war. The greater part of the 
generation for and with whom he had fought 
his first fields, had passed away. Of the two 
millions of souls to whose rescue from oppres- 
sion he had crossed the ocean in 1777, not one 
in ten survived. But their places were supplied 
by more than five times their numbers, their 
descendants and successors. The sentiment of 
gratitude and affection for Lafayette, far from 
declining with the lapse of time, quickened in 
spirit as it advanced in years, and seemed to 



multiply with the increasing numbers of the 
people. The nation had never ceased to sym- 
pathize with his fortunes, and in every vicissi- 
tude of his life, had manifested the deepest 
interest in his welfare. He had occasionally 
expressed his intention to visit once more the 
scene of his early achievements, and the coun- 
try which had requited his services by a just 
estimate of their value. In February, 1824, a 
solemn legislative act, unanimously passed by 
both houses of congress, and approved by the 
President of the United States, charged the 
chief magistrate of the nation with the duty of 
communicating to him the assurances of grate- 
ful and affectionate attachment still cherished 
for him by the government and people of the 
United Slates, and of tendering to him a na- 
tional ship, with suitable accommodation, for 
his conveyance to this country. 

Ten years have passed away since the oc- 
currence of that event. Since then, the increase 
of population within the borders of our Union 
exceeds, in numbers, the whole mass of that 
infant community to whose liberties he had de- 
voted, in early youth, his life and fortune. His 
companions and fellow-soldiers of the war of 
Independence, of whom a scanty remnant still 
existed to join in the universal shcnt of wel- 
come with which he landed upon our shores, 
have been since, in the ordinary course of na- 
ture, dropping away : pass but a few short 
years more, and not an individual of ihat gene- 
ration with which he toiled and bled in the 
cause of human kind, upon his first appearance 
on the field of human action, will be left. The 
gallant ofiicer, and distinguished representative 
of the people, at whose motion, upon this floor, 
the invitation of the nation was given — the 
chief magistrate by whom, in compliance witii 
the will of the legislature, it was tendered — the 
surviving Presidents of the United States, and 
their venerable compeer signers of the Declara- 
tion of Independence, who received him to the 
arms of private friendship, while mingling their 
voices in the chorus of public exultation and joy, 
are no longerheretoshed thetearof sorrow upon 
bis departure from this earthly scene. They all 
preceded him in the translation to another, and, 
we trust, a happier world. The active, ener- 
getic manhood of the nation, of whose infancy 
he had been the protector and benefactor, and 
who, by the protracted festivities of more than 
a year of jubilee, manifested to him their sense 



68 



GILBERT MOTTIER DE LAFAYETTE. 



of the obligations for which they were indebted 
to hini, are already descending into the vale of 
years. The children of the public schools, who 
thronged in double files to pass in review be- 
fore him to catch a glimpse of his countenance, 
and a smile from his eye, are now among the 
men and women of the land, rearing another 
generation to envy their parents the joy which 
^hey can never share, of having seen and con- 
tributed to the glorious and triumphant recep- 
tion of Lafayette. 

Upon his return to France, Lafayette was 
received with a welcome by his countrymen 
scarcely less enthusiastic than that with which 
he had been greeted in this country. From his 
landing at Havre till his arrival at his residence 
at La Grange, it was again one triumphal 
march, rendered but the more striking by the 
interruptions and obstacles of an envious and 
jealous government. Threats were not even 
spared of arresting him as a criminal, and hold- 
ing him responsible for the spontaneous and 
irrepressible feelings manifested by the people 
in his favor. He was, very soon after his re- 
turn, again elected a member of the chamber of 
deputies, and thenceforward, in that honorable 
and independent station, was the soul of that 
steadfast and inflexible party which never 
ceased to defend, and was ultimately destined 
to vindicate the liberties of France. 

The government of the Eourbons, from the 
time of their restoration, was a perpetual strug- 
gle to return to the saturnian times of absolute 
power. For them the sun and rnoon had stood 
still, not, as in the miracle of ancient story, for 
about a whole day, but for more than a whole 
century. Reseated upon their thrones, not, as 
the Stuarts had been in the seventeenth century, 
by the voluntary act of the same people which 
had expelled them, but by the arms of foreign 
kings and hostile armies, instead of aiming, by 
the liberality of their government, and by im- 
proving the condition of their people, to make 
ihem forget the humiliation of the yoke imposed 
upon them, they labored with unyielding tena- 
city to make it more galling. They disarmed 
the national guards ; they cramped and crippled 
the right of suffrage in elections; they pervert- 
ed and travestied the institution of juries; they 
fettered the freedom of the press, and in their 
external policy lent themselves, willing instru- 
ments to crush the liberties of Spain and It^ly. 
The spirit of the nation was curbed, but not 



subdued. The principles of freedom proclaim- 
ed in ihe Declaration of Rights of 1789, had 
taken too deep root to be extirpated. Charles 
the Tenth, by a gradual introduction into his 
councils of the most inveterate adherents to the 
anti-revolutionary government, was preparing 
the way for the annihilation of the charter and 
of the legislative representation of the people. 
In proportion as this plan approached to its 
maturity, the resistance of the nation to its ac- 
complishment acquired consistency and orga- 
nization. The time had been, when, by the re- 
strictions upon the right of suffrage, and 4he 
control of the press, and even of the freedom of 
debate in the legislature, the opposition in the 
chamber of deputies had dwindled down to not 
more than thirty members. But, under a rapid 
succession of incompetent and unpopular ad- 
ministrations, the majority of the house of 
deputies had passed from the side of the court 
to that of the people. In August, 1829, the 
king, confiding in his imaginary strength, reor- 
ganized his ministry by the appointment of 
men whose reputation was itself a pledge of 
the violent and desperate designs in contempla- 
tion. At the first meeting of the legislative as- 
sembly, an address to the king, signed by two 
hundred and twenty-one out of four hundred 
members, declared to him, in respectful terms, 
that a concurrence of sentiments between his 
ministers and the nation was indispensable to 
the happiness of the people under his govern- 
ment, and that this concurrence did not exist. 
He replied that his determination was immove- 
able, and dissolved the assembly. A new elec- 
tion was held; and so odious throughout the 
nation were the measures of the court, that, of 
the two hundred and twenty-one members 
who had signed the address against the minis- 
ters, more than two hundred were re-elected. 
The opposition had also gained an accession of 
numbers in the remaining part of the deputa- 
tions, and it was apparent that, upon the meet- 
ing of the assembly, the court party could not 
be sustained. 

At this crisis, Charles the Tenth, as if re- 
solved to leave himself not the shadow of a 
pretext to complain of his expulsion from the 
throne, in defiance of the charter, to the ob- 
servance of which he had solemnly sworn, 
issued at one and the same ti:ne, four ordi- 
nances — the first of which suspended the liber- 
ty of the press, and prohibited the publication 



GILBERT MOTTIER DE LAFAYETTE. 



69 



cf a!l the daily newspapers and other periodi- 
cal journals, but by license, revocable at plea- 
sure, and renewable every three months; the 
second annulled the election of deputies, which 
had just taken place ; the third changed the 
mode of election prescribed by law, and re- 
duced nearly by one-half the numbers of the 
House of Deputies to be elected ; and the fourth 
commanded the new elections to be held, and 
fixed a day for the meeting of the assembly to 
be so constituted. 

These ordinances were the immediate occa- 
sion of the last revolution of the three days, 
terminating in the final expulsion of Charles 
the Tenth from the throne, and of himself and 
his family from the territory of France. This 
was effected by an insurrection of the people of 
Paris, which burst forth, by spontaneous and 
unpremeditated movement, on the very day of 
the promulgation of the four ordinances. The 
first of these, the suppression of all the daily 
newspapers, seemed as if studiously devised to 
provoke instantaneous resistance, and the con- 
flict of physical force. Had Charles the Tenth 
issued a decree to shut up all the bakehouses 
of Paris, it could not have been more fatal to 
his authority. The conductors of the proscribed 
journals, by mutual engagement among them- 
selves, determined to consider the ordinance as 
unlawful, null and void; and this was to all 
classes of the people the signal of resistance. 
The publishersof two of the journals, summon- 
ed immediately before the judicial tribunal, 
were justified in their resistance by the sen- 
tence of the court, pronouncing the ordinance 
null and void. A marshal of France receives the 
commands of the king to disperse by force of 
arms the population of Paris ; but the sponta- 
neous resurrection of the national guard orga- 
nizes at once an army to defend the liberties of 
the nation. Lafayette is again called from his 
retreat at La Grange, and by the unanimous 
voice of the people, confirmed by such deputies 
of the legislative assembly as were able to 
meet for common consultation at that trying 
emergency, is again placed at the head of the 
national guard as their commander-in-chief. 
He assumed the command on the second day 
of the conflict, and on the third Charles the 
Tenth had ceased to reign. He formally abdi- 
cated the crown, and his son, the Duke d'An- 
gouleme, renounced his pretensions to the suc- 
cession. But, humble imitators of Napoleon, 



even in submitting to their own degradation, 
they clung to the last gasp of hereditary sway, 
by transmitting all their claim of dominion to 
the orphan child of the Duke de Berri. 

At an early stage of the revolution of 1789, 
I Lafayette had declared it as a principle that 
insurrection against tyrants was the most sacred 
of duties. He had borrowed this sentiment per- 
haps from the motto of Jeflferson— " Rebellion 
to tyrants is obedience to God." The principle 
itself is as sound as its enunciation is daring. 
Like all general maxims, it is susceptible of 
very dangerous abuses : the test of its truth is 
exclusively in the correctness of its application. 
As forming a part of the political creed of 
Lafayette, it has been severely criticised ; nor 
can it be denied that in the experience of the 
French revolutions, the cases in which popular 
j insurrection has been resorted to, for the ex- 
' tinction of existing authority, have been so fre- 
quent, so unjustifiable in their causes, so 
atrocious in their execution, so destructive to 
liberty in their consequences, that the friends 
of freedom, who know that she can exist only 
under the supremacy of the law, have some- 
times felt themselves constrained to shrink 
from the development of abstract truth, in the 
dread of the danger with which she is sur- 
rounded. 

In the revolution of the three days of 1830, it 
was the steady, calm, but inflexible adherence 
of Lafayette to this maxim which decided the 
fate of the Bourbons. After the struggles of 
the people had commenced, and even while 
liberty and power were grappling with each 
other for life or death, the deputies elect to the 
legislative assembly, then at Paris, held seve- 
ral meetings at the house of their colleaorue 
Lafiite, and elsewhere, at which the question 
of resistance against the ordinances was warmly 
debated, and aversion to that resistance by 
force was the sentiment predominant in the 
minds of a majority of the members. The hearts 
of some of the most ardent patriots quailed 
within them at the thought of another overthrow 
of the monarchy. All the horrible recollections 
of the reign of terror, the massacre of the pri- 
sons in September, the butcheries of the guillo- 
tine from year to year, the headless trunks of 
Brissot, and Danton, and Robeepierre, and last, 
not least, the iron crown and sceptre of Napo- 
leon himself, rose in hideous succession before 
them, and haunted their imaginations. They 



70 



GILBERT MOTTIER DE LAFAYETTE. 



detested the ordinances, but hoped that by j The people of France, like the Cardinal de 
negoliaiion and remonstrance with the recreant Retz, more than two centuries before, wanted a 
king, it might yet be possible to obtain the descendant from Henry the Fourth, who could 
revocation of them, and the substitution of a speak the language of the Parisian populace, 
more liberal ministry. This deliberation was and who had known what it was to be a ple- 



not concluded till Lafayette appeared among 
them. From that moment the die was cast. 
They had till then no military leader. Louis 



beian. They found him in the person of Louis 
Philippe, of Orleans. Lafayette himself was 
compelled to compromise with his principles, 



Philippe, of Orleans, had not then been seen i purely and simply republican, and to accept 
among them. him, first as lieutenant-general of the kingdom, 

In all the changes of government in France, i and then as hereditary king. There was, per- 



from the first assembly of notables to that day, 
there never had been an act of authority 
presenting a case for the fair and just applica- 
tion of the duty of resistance against oppression, 
so clear, so unquestionable, so flagrant as this. 
The violations of the charier were so gross and 



haps, in this determination, besides the motives 
which operated upon others, a consideration of 
disinterested delicacy, which could be applica- 
ble only to himself. Jf the republic should be 
proclaimed, he knew that the chief magistracy 
could be delegated only to himself. It must 



palpable, that the most determined royalist have been a chief magistracy for life, which, 
could not deny them. The mask had been laid at his age, could only have been for a short 



aside. The sword of despotism had been drawn, 
and the scabbard cast away. A king openly 



term of years. Independent of the extreme 
dangers and difficulties to himself, to his family. 



foresworn, had forfeited every claim to alle- and to his country, in which the position which 
giance ; and the only resource of the nation he would have occupied might have involved 
against him was resistance by force. This was them, the inquiry could not escape his forecast, 



the opinion of Lafayette, and he declared him 
self ready to take the command of the national 
guard, should the wish of the people, already 
declared thus to place him at the head of this 



who, upon his demise, could be his successor? 
and what must be the position occupied by 
himl If, at that moment, he had but spoken 
the word, he might have closed his career with 



spontaneous movement, be confirmed by his a crown upon his head, and with a withering 

colleagues of the legislative assembly. The blast upon his name to the end of time, 
appointment was accordingly conferred upon 
him, and the second day afterwards Charles 
the Tenth and his family were fugitives to a I was offered to that prince, and he looked to 

foreign land. Lafayette for consultation, " you know (said 

France was without a government. She he) that lam of the American school, and partial 



With the Duke of Orleans himself, he used 
no concealment or disguise. When the crown 



might then have constituted herself a republic ; 
and such was, undoubtedly, the aspiration of a 
very large portion of her population. But with 
another, and yet larger portion of her people, 
the name of republic was identified with the 
memory of Robespierre. It was held in exe- 
cration ; there was imminent danger, if not 
absolute certainty, that the attempt to organize 
a republic would have been the signal for a new 
civil war. The name of a republic, too, was 
hateful to all the neighbors of France; to the 



to the constitution of the United States." So, 
it seems, was Louis Philippe. " I think with 
you," said he. " It is impossible to pass two 
years in the United States, without being con- 
vinced that their government is the best in the 
world. But do you think it suited to our pre- 
sent circumstances and condition ?" No, re- 
plied Lafayette. They require a monarchy 
surrounded by popular institutions. So thought, 
also, Louis Philippe; and he accepted the 
crown under the conditions upon which it was 



confederacy of emperors and kings, which had i tendered to him. 

twice replaced the Bourbons upon the throne, Lafayette retained the command of the na- 
and who might be propitiated under the disap- tional guard so long as it was essential to the 
pointment and mortification of the result, by settlement of the new order of things, on the 
the retention of the name of king, and the sub- , basis of order and of freedom; so long as it 
stitution of the semblance of a Bourbon for the was essential to control the stormy and excited 
jeality, passions of the Parisian people; so long as 



GILBERT MOTTIER DE LAFAYETTE. 



71 



was necessary to save the ministers of the 
guilty but fallen monarch from the rash and 
revengeful resentments of their conquerors. 
When this was accomplished, and the people 
had been preserved from the calamity of shed- 
ding in peace the blood of war, he once more 
resigned his command, retired in privacy to La 
Grange, and resumed his post as a deputy in 
the legislative assembly, which he continued 
to hold till the close of life. 

His station there was still at the head of the ! 
phalanx, supporters of liberal principles and of 
constitutional freedom. In Spain, in Portugal, 
in Italy, and above all in Poland, the cause of 
liberty has been struggling against the hand of 
power, and, to the last hour of his life, they 
found in Lafayette a never-failing friend and 
patron. 

In his last illnes?, the standing which he 
held in the hearts of mankind was attested by 
the formal resolution of the House of Deputies, 
met to make inquiries concerning his condition ; 
and dying, as he did, full of years and of glory, 
never, in the history of mankind, has a private 
individual departed more universally lamented 
by the whole generation of men whom he has 
left behind. 

Such, Legislators of the North American Coti' 
federated Union, was the life of Gilbert Mot- 
tier DE Lafayette, and the record of his life 
is the delineation of his character. Consider 
him as one human beintr of one thousand mil- 
lions, his cotemporaries on the surface of the 
terraqueous globe. Among that thousand mil- 
lions seek for an object of comparison with 
him ; assume for the standard of comparison 
all the virtues which exalt the character of man 
above that of the brute creation; take the ideal 
man, little lower than the angels ; mark the 
qualities of the mind and heart which entitle 
him to this station of pre-eminence in the scale 
of created beings, and inquire who, that lived 
in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries of 
the Christian era, combined in himself so many 
of those qualities, so little alloyed with those 
which belong to that earthly vesture of decay 
in which the immortal spirit is enclosed, as 
Lafayette. 

Pronounce him one of the first men of his 
age, and you have not yet done him justice. 
Try him by that test to which he sought in vain 
to stimulate the vulgar and selfish spirit of Na- 
poleon ; class him among the men who, to 



compare and seat themselves, must take in the 
compass of all ages; turn back your eyes upon 
the records of time; summon from the creation 
of the world to this day the mighty dead of 
every age and every clime — and where, among 
the race of merely mortal men, shall one be 
found, who, as the benefactor of his kind, shall 
claim to take precedence of Lafayette 1 

There have doubtless been, in all ages, men, 
whose discoveries or inventions, in the world 
of matter or of mind, have opened new avenues 
to the dominion of man over the material crea- 
tion ; have increased his means or his faculties 
of enjoyment; have raised him in nearer ap- 
proximation to that higher and happier condi- 
tion, the object of his hopes and aspirations in 
his present state of existence. 

Lafayette discovered no new principle of 
politics or of morals. He invented nothing in 
science. He disclosed no new phenomenon in 
the laws of nature. Born and educated in the 
highest order of feudal nobility, under the most 
absolute monarchy of Europe, in possession of 
an affluent fortune, and master of himself and 
of all his capabilities at the moment of attain- 
ing manhood, the principle of republican jus- 
tice and of social equality took possession of 
his heart and mind, as if by inspiration from 
above. He devoted himself, his life, his for- 
tune, his hereditary honors, his towering ambi- 
tion, his splendid hopes, all to the cause of 
liberty. He came to another hemisphere to 
defend her. He became one of the most effec- 
tive champions of our Independence; but, that 
once achieved, he returned to his own country, 
and thenceforward took no part in the contro- 
versies which have divided us. In the event? 
of our revolution, and in the forms of policy 
which we have adopted for the establishment 
and perpetuation of our freedom, Lafayette 
found the most perfect form of government. 
He wished to add nothing to it. He would 
gladly have abstracted nothing from it. Instead 
of the imaginary republic of Plato, or the 
Utopia of Sir Thomas More, he took a practical 
existing model, in actual operation here, and 
never attempted or wished more than to apply 
it faithfully to his own country. 

It was not given to Moses to enter the pro- 
mised land ; but he saw it from the summit of 
Pisgah. It was not given to Lafayette to wit- 
ness the consummation of his wishes in the 
establishment of a republic, and the exlinctiori 



72 



GILBERT MOTTIER DE LAFAYETTE. 



of all hereditary rule in France. His princi- 
ples were in advance of the age and hemisphere 
in which he lived. A Bouibon stil! reigns on 
the throne of France, and it is not for us to 
scrutinize the title by which he reigns. The 
principles of elective and hereditary power, 
blended in reluctant union in his person, like 
the red and white roses of York and Lancaster, 
may postpone to aftertime the last conflict to 
which they must ultimately come. The life of 
the patriarch was not long enough for the de- 
velopment of his whole political system. Its 
final accomplishment is in the womb of time. 

The anticipation of this event is the more 
certain, from the consideration that all the prin- 
ciples for which Lafayette contended were prac- 
tical. He never indulged himself in wild and 
fanciful speculations. The principle of heredi- 
tary power, was, in his opinion, the bane of all 
republican liberty in Europe. Unable to extin- 
guish it in the revolution of 1830, so far as 
concerned the chief magistracy of the nation, 
Lafayette had the satisfaction of seeing it 
abolished with reference to the peerage. An 
hereditary crown, stript of the support which 
it may derive from an hereditary peerage, how- 
ever compatible with Asiatic despotism, is an 
anomaly in the liistory of the Christian world, 
and in the theory of free government. There 
is no argument producible against the existence 
of an hereditary peerage, but applies with ag- 
gravated weight against the transmission, from 
sire to son, of an hereditary crown. The pre- 
judices and passions of the people of France 
rejected the principle of inherited power, in 
every station of public trust, excepting the first 
and highest of them all ; but there they clung 
to it, as did the Israelites of old to the savory 
deities of Egypt. 

This is not the time or the place for a disquisi- 
tion upon the comparative rx;erits, as a system 



of government, of a republic, and a monarchy 
surrounded by republican institutions. Upon 
this subject there is among us no diversity of 
opinion; and if it should take the people of 
P'rance another half century of internal and 
external war, of dazzling and delusive glories, 
of unparalleled triumphs, humiliating reverses, 
and bitter disappointments, to settle it to their 
satisfaction, the ultimate result can only bring 
them lo the point where we have stood from 
the day of the Declaration of Independence — to 
the point where Lafayette would have brought 
them, and to which he looked as a consumma- 
tion devoutly to be wished. 

Then, too, and then only, will be the time 
when the character of Lafayette will be appre- 
ciated at its true value throughout the civilized 
world. When the principle of hereditary do- 
minion shall be extinguished in all the institu- 
tions of France; when government shall no 
longer be considered as property transmissible 
from sire to son, but as a trust committed for a 
limited time, and then to return to the people 
whence it came; as a burdensome duty to be 
discharged, and not as a reward to be abused ; 
when a claim, any claim, to political power by 
inheritance shall, in the estimation of the whole 
French people, be held as it now is by the 
whole people of the North American Union — 
then will be the time for contemplating the 
character of Lafayette, not merely in the events 
of his life, but in the full development of his 
intellectual conceptions, of his fervent aspira- 
tions, of the labors and j)erils and sacrifices of 
his long and eventful career upon earth; and 
thenceforward, till the hour when the trump of 
the archangel shall sound to announce that 
time shall be no more, the name of Lafayette 
shall stand enrolled upon the annals of our 
race, high on the list of the pure and disinter- 
ested benefactors of mankind. 



THE LIFE AND CHARACTEE 



OF 



JAMES MONROE.' 



* 



Among the peculiarities affecting the condi- j 
tion of human existence, in a community form- ] 
ed within the period allotted to the life of man, 
is the state of being exclusively belonging to 
the individuals who assisted in the formation! 
of that community. Three thousand years have 
elapsed since the Monarch of Israel, who, from 
that time, has borne the reputation of the 
wisest of men, declared that there was no new 
thing under the sun. And then, as now, the 
assertion, confined to the operations of nature, 
to the instincts of animal life, to the primary 
purposes, and innate passions of human kind, 
was, and is, strictly true. Of all the illustra- 
tions of the sentiment given by him, the course 
is now as it was then. One generation passeth ' 
away, and another generation cometh. To the i 
superficial observation of the human eye, the 
Sun still ariseth and goeth down ; the wind 
whirleth about continually ; all rivers run into 
the sea, which yet is not full ; and all things 
are full of labor, which man cannot utter : yet, 
although the thing that hath been is that which 
shall be, and that which is done is that which 
shall be done, — still the eye is not satisfied with 
seeing, nor the ear filled with hearing: and 
this affords the solution to all the rest. The 
aspirations of man to a better condition than 
that which he enjoys, are at once the pledges 
of his immortality, and the privileges of his 
existence upon earth ; they combine for his en^ 
joyment the still freshening charms of novelty 
with the immutable laws of creation, and inter- 
twine the ever-varying felicities of his condition 
with the unchangeable monotony of nature. 

Thus, a thousand years after Solomon had 
ceased to exist upon earth, when his kingdom 
had been extinguished, and his nation carried 

•Delivered before the Corporation of Boston, 1831. 
7 



into captivity, there arose among his own de- 
scendants, a Redeemer of the human race from 
the thraldom of sin; the Mediator of a new 
covenant between God and man. From that 
time, though all remained unchanged in the 
phenomena of creation, all was new in the 
condition of human life. In the rise and fal! 
of successive empires, other novelties succeed 
each other from age to age. New planets are 
discovered in the heavens, and new continents 
are revealed upon earth. New pursuits are 
opened to industry ; new comforts to enjoy- 
ment ; new prospects to hope. The secrets of 
the physical and intellectual world are gradual- 
ly disclosed ; the powers of man are from time 
to time enlarged : — but the eye is not satisfied 
with seeing, nor the ear filled with hearing. — 
The tendency of the magnet to the Pole, and 
its application to the purposes of navigation ; 
the composition of gunpowder, and its applica- 
tion to the purposes of war; the invention of 
printing, and its application to all the purposes 
of man, in peace and war, — to the wants of the 
body, and the expansion of the mind, — the gift 
as it were, of a new earth to replenish and sub- 
due, by the disclosure of a new hemisphere, to 
the enterprise and capacities of man ; all these 
things are new in the records of the human 
species. Each of these things diverted into a 
new channel the current of human affairs, and 
furnished for the lord of the creation a new 
system of occupations in his progress from the 
cradle to the grave. '' 

But of all the changes effected, and all the 
novelties introduced into the condition of human 
beings, since the promulgation of the gospel of 
Christ, none has been more considerable than 
that, the developement of which began with 
the severance of th6 British colonies in North 
America from the parent-stock. The imme- 



74 



JAMES MONROE. 



diate collision of rights, interests, and passions, 
whicti produced the conflict between the par- 
ties, and ended in sundering the two portions 
of the empire engaged, occupied and absorbed 
the agency and the powers of the actors on that 
memorable theatre. An English poet has de- 
clared it praise enough to fill the ambition of a 
common man, that he was the countryman of 
Wolfe, and spoke the language of Chatham. 
The colonists, who achieved the indepen- 
dence of North America, were the country- 
men of Wolle, and Chatham's language was j 
their mother-tongue. But of what avail for 
praise would this have been to them, liad they 
not possessed souls, inspired with the same 
principles, and hearts endowed with higher 
energies than those which conducted those 
illustrious names to the pinnacle of glory. — 
Never would the object of the North American 
Revolution have been accomplished but by 
men, in whose bosoms the love of liberty had 
been implanted from their birth, and imbibed 
from the maternal breast. 

Considered in itself, the independence of 
our country was only the splitting up of one 
civilized nation into two — caused by usurpa- 
tion ; consummated by war. As such, it con- 
stituted one great element in the history of 
civilized man during its continuance; but that 
was short and transient. From the Stamp Act 
to the definitive Treaty of Peace, concluded at 
Paris, on the third of September, 1783, a term 
of less than twenty years intervened, — a term 
scarcely sufficient for the action of one of the 
dramas of Shakspeare. It was not even equal 
to the duration of one age of man. We have 
already lived since the close of that momentous 
struggle nearly thrice the extent of time, in 
which it passed through all its stages, and there 
are yet among the living those whose birth pre- 
ceded even tliat of the questions upon which 
hinged our independent existence as a nation. 

Among these was the distinguished person, 
whose earthly career terminated on the fifty-fifth 
Anniversary of our National Independence. 
N Jamks Monroe was born in September, 1759, 
in the County of Westmoreland, in the then 
Colony of Virginia; and at the time of the 
Declaration of Independence, was in the pro 
cess of completing his education at the college 
of William and Mary. He was then seven- 
teen years of age, and at the first formation of 
the American army entered it as a cadet. Had 



he been born ten years before, it can scarcely 
be doubted that he would have been one of the 
members of the first Congress, and that his 
name would have gone down to posterity 
among those of the signers of the Declaration 
of Independence. Among the blessings con- 
ferred by a beneficent Providence upon this 
country in the series of events which composed 
that Revolution, was its influence in the forma- 
tion of individual and of national character. 
The controversy which preceded the Revolu- 
tionary war, necessarily formed by a practical 
education the race of statesmen, by whom it 
was conducted to its close. The nature of the 
controversy itself, turning upon the elementary 
principles of civil society, upon the natural 
rights of man, and the foundations of govern- 
ment, pointed the attention of men to the in- 
vestigation of those principles; exercised all 
the intellectual faculties of the most ardent 
and meditative souls, and led to discoveries 
in the theory of government which have chang- 
ed the face of the world. 

The conflict of mind preceded that of matter. 
The question at issue, between Great Britain 
and her colonies, was purely a question of 
right. On one side, a pretension to authority, 
on the other a claim of freedom. It was a law- 
suit between the British King and Parliament 
of the one part, and the people of the colonies, 
of the other, pleaded before the tribunal of the 
human race. It was an advantage to the cause 
of the colonies in that contest, that it reposed 
exclusively upon the basis of right. " Autho- 
rity, " says a keen observer of human nature, 

" Authority, though it err like others, 
Hath yet a kind of medicine in itself 
That skins the vice on the top. " 

In the preluding struggle to the war of In- 
dependence, British authority was constantly 
administering this self-healing medicine to her 
own wrongs. The first assertion of her right, 
was an act of Parliament to levy a tax. V\ hen 
she found its execution impracticable, she re- 
pealed the tax, but declared the right of Par- 
liament to make laws for the colonies, in all 
cases whatsoever. To this mere declaration, 
the colonies could make no resistance. It 
skinned the vice on the top. W'ith the next 
act of taxation, she sent fleets and armies for 
the healing medicine to her errors. She dis- 
solved the colonial Assemblies, revoked the 



JAMES MONRO E 



75 



colonial charters, sealed up the port of Boston, 
annihilated the colonial fisheries, and pro- 
claimed the province of Massachusetts bay in 
rebellion. These were the healing medicines 
of British authority; while the only pretence 
of right that she could allege for all these acts, 
was the sovereignty of the British Parliament. 
To contend against this array of power, the 
only defence of the colonies at the outset was 
the right and justice of their cause. From the 
first promulgation of the Stamp Act, the spirit 
of resistance, with the speed of a sunbeam, 

■> flashed instantaneous through all the colonies ; 

• kindled every heart and raised every arm. But 
this spirit of resistance, and this unanimity, 
would have been transitory and evanescent, 
had it not been sustained, invigorated, and 
made invincible, by the basis of eternal and 
immutable justice in the cause. It engrossed, 
it absorbed all the faculties of the soul. It in- 
spired the eloquence which poured itself forth 
in the colonial Assemblies, in the instructions 
from the inhabitants of many of the towns to 
their Representatives, and even in newspaper 
essays, and occasional pamphlets by indivi- 
duals. The general contest gave rise to fre- 
quent incidenial controversies betvveen the 
royal Governors, and the colonial Legislatures, 
in which the collision of principles, stimulated 
the energies, directed the researches, and ex- 
panded the faculties of those who maintained 
the rights of their country. The profoundest 
philosophical statesman of the British empire, 
at that period, noticed the operation of these 
causes, in one of his admirable speeches to the 
House of Commons, He remarked the natural 
tendency and effect of the study and practice 
of the law, to quicken the intellect, and to 
sharpen the reasoning powers of men. He 
observed the preponderant portion of lawyers 
in the colonial Legislatures, and in the Conti- 
nental Congress, and the influence of their 
oratory and their argument upon the under- 
standing and the will of their countrymen. Yet 
that same clear sighted and penetrating states- 
man, long after the Declaration of Indepen- 
dence, penned with his own hand an address 
to the people of the United States, urging 
them to return to their British allegiance, and 
assuring them that their struggle against the 
colossal power of Great Britain, must be fruit- 
less and vain. Chatham himself, the most 
eloquent orator of England — whose language 



it is the boast of honest pride to speak — 
Chatham, a peer of the British realm, in the 
sanctuary of her legislation, declared his ap- 
probation of the American cause, his disclaim- 
er of all right in Parliament to tax the colonies, 
and his joy, that the people of the colonies 
had resisted the pretension. Yet that same 
Chatham, not only after the declaration, but 
after the conclusion of solemn treaties of al- 
liance between the United States and France, 
sacrificed the remnant of his days, and wasted 
his expiring breath, in feeble and fruitless pro- 
testations against the irrevocable sentence to 
which his country was doomed — the acknowl- 
edgment of American Independence. It has 
been said, that men's judgments are a parcel 
of their fortunes ; and they who believe in a 
superintending Providence have constant occa- 
sion to remark the wisdom from above, which 
unfolds the purposes of signal improvement 
in the condition of man, by preparing, and 
maturing in advance, the instruments by which 
they are ultimately to be accomplished. The 
intellectual conflict, which, for a term of' 
twelve years, had preceded the Declaration of 
Independence, had formed a race of men, of 
whom the signers of that instrument were the 
selected and faithful representatives. Their 
constituents were like themselves. Life, for- 
tune, and sacred honor, were staked upon the 
maintenance of that declaration. Not alone 
the life, fortune, and saered honor of the indi- 
viduals who signed their names, but with little 
exception, of the people whom they represent- 
ed. One spirit animated the mass, and that 
spirit was invincible. It is a striking circum- 
stance to remark, that in the island of Great 
Britain, not a single mind existed capable of 
comprehending this spirit and its power. — 
Deeper and more capacious minds, bolder and 
more ardent hearts, than Burke and Chatham, 
have seldom, in any age of the world, and in'v 
any region of the earth, appeared upon the 
stage of action. Yet we have here unques- 
tionable demonstration that neither of them had 
formed a conception of the power, physical, 
moral and intellectual, of that unextinguisha- 
ble flame which pervaded every particle of the 
man, soul and body, of the self declared inde- 
pendent American. It is an easy resource of 
vulgar controversy to transfer the stress of her 
argument from the cause, to the motive of her 
adversary, and the rottenness of any cause. 



76 



JAMES MONROE. 



will generally be found proportioned to the 
propensity manifested by its supporters, to re- 
sort to this expedient. On the question which 
hred the revolution of independence, the taxa- 
tion of the colonies by Parliament, all the great 
and leadins minds of the British islands, all 



were 'at the same time employed in raising, 
organizing, training and disciplining fleets and 
armies to maintain the cause of freedom, and 
of their country, against all Britannia's thun- 
ders. And they were employed in maintaining 
by reason and argument before the tribunal of 



who have left a name on which the memory of mankind, and in the face of heaven, the eter- 
posterity will repose, Mansfield and Johnson nal justice of their cause. Thus they were 
excepted, were on the American side. Burke, employed. Thus had been employed the 
Chatham, Camden, Fox, Sheridan, Rocking- 
ham, Dunning, Barre, Lansdown, all recorded 
their constant, deep and solemn protestations, 
against the system of measures which forced 
upon the colonies the blessing of Indepen- 
dence. But when Chatham and Camden 
raised in vain their voices to arrest the uplifted 
arm of oppression, George Grcnville and his 
abettors knew, or deemed so little of the spirit 
and argument of the Americans, that they 
affirmed it was all furnished for them by Chat- 
ham and Camden, and that their only motive 
was to supplant the Chancellor of the Exche- 
quer. Adam Smith, the penetrating searcher 
into the causes of the wealth of nations, whose 
book was published about a year after the De- 



members of the Continental Congress, and 
thousands of their constituents, from the time 
when the princes and nobles of Britain had 
imposed these employments upon them, by the 
visitation of the Stamp Act. And now is it 
not matter of curious speculation, does it not 
open new views of human nature, to observe, 
that while the shopkeepers, tradesmen and al- 
tornies of British North America were thus 
employed, Adam Smith, the profound theorist 
of moral sentiment, the illustrious discoverer 
of the sources of the wealth of nations, could 
in the depth and compass of his mighty mind, 
imagine no operative impulse to the conduct of 
men thus employed, but a paUry gratification 
of vanity, in their individual importance, from 



claration of Independence, without deigning to which they might easily be weaned, by the 
spend a word upon the cause of America, with superior and irresistible allurement of a seat in 
deep sagacity of face and gravity of muscle, the British House of Commons] 



assures his readers, that they are very weak, 
who imagine that the Americans will easily 
be conquered — for that the Continental Con- 
gress consists of men, who from shopkeepers, 
tradesmen and altornies, are become statesmen 
and legislators. That they are employed in 
contriving a new form of government, for an 
extensive empire, which they justly flatter 
'.hemselves will become one of the greatest 
and most formidable that ever was in the world. 
That if the Americans should be subdued, all 
these men would lose their importance — and the 



More than half a century has now passed 
away; the fruits of the employment of these 
shopkeepers, tradesmen and attornies, trans- 
formed into statesmen and legislators, now form 
the most instiuctive, as well as the most splen- 
did chapter in the history of mankind. They 
did contrive a new form of government for an 
extensive empire, which nothing under the 
canopy of heaven, but the basest degeneracy 
of their posterity can prevent from becoming 
the greatest and the most formidable that the 
world ever saw. They did maintain before earth 



remedy that he proposes is, to start a new and heaven, the justice of their cause. They 



y object for their ambition, by forming a union 
of the colonies with Great Britain, and ad- 
mitting some of the leading Americans into 
Parliament. Yet tliis man was the author of 
a Theory of Moral Sentiments in which he 
resolved all moral principle into sympathy. 



did defend their country against all the thun- 
ders of Britain, and compelled her monarch, 
her nobles, and her people, to acknowledge the 
Independence which they had declared, and to 
receive their confederated republic among the 
sovereign potentates of the world. Of ttie 



True it was, that the shopkeepers, tradesmen shopkeepers, tradesmen and attornies who 
and attornies, were occupied in contriving a i composed the Congress of Independence, the 
new form of government, for an extensive em- career on earth has closed. They sleep with 
pire, which tliey might reasonably flatter them- , their fathers. Have they lost their individual 
selves would become the greatest and most importance 1 Say, ye who venerate as an 
glorious that the world has ever seen. They { angel upon earth, the solitary remnant of that 






JAMES MONROE. 



77 



assembly, yet lingering upon the verge of eter- ] when in proportion as the battalions of invad- 
nity. Give me the rule of proportion, between ing armies thickened and multiplied, those of 
a seat, from old Sarum, in the House of Com- j the heroic chieftain of our defence were dwin- 
raons, and the name of Charles Carroll, of dling to the verge of dissolution. When the 
Carrollton, at the foot of the Declaration of disastrous days of Flat Bush, Hserlem Heights 
Independence 1 Was honest fame, one of the and White Plains, were followed by the suc- 
raotivesto action in the human heart, exclud- cessive evacuation of Lontr Island, and New 



ed from the philosophical estimate of Adam 
Smith 1 Did he suppose patriotism, the love 
of liberty, benevolence and ardor for the wel- 



York, the surrender of Fort Washington, and 
the retreat through the Jersies ; till on the day 
devoted to celebrate the birth of the Saviour 



fare and improvement of humankind, inacces- of mankind, of the same year on which Inde- 
sible to the bosoms of the shopkeeper, states- pendence was proclaimed, Washington, with 



man, and attorney legislators ? I forbear to 
pursue the inquiry further, though more ample 
illustration might easily be adduced to confirm 



the houseless heads, and unshod feet, of three 
thousand new and undisciplined levies, stood 
on the western bank of the Delaware, to con- 



the position which I would submit to your tend in arms with the British Lion, and to bafRe 
meditations: that the conflict for our national the skill and energy of the chosen champions 



Independence, and the controversy of twelve 
years which preceded it, did, in the natural 



of Britain, with ten times the number of his 
shivering and emaciate host ; the stream of the 



course of events, and by the ordinary dispen- 1 Delaware, forming the only barrier between 
sations of Providence, produce and form a race the proud array of thirty thousand veteran 
of men, of moral and intellectual power, adapt- Britons, and the scanty remnant of his dissolv- 
ed to the times and circumstances in which ing bands. Then it was that the glorious 
they lived, and with characters and motives to ' leader of our forces struck the blow, which 
action, not only differing fiora those which decided the issue of the war. Then it was 
predominate in other ages and climes, but of! that the myriads of Britain's warriors were 
which men accustomed only to the common ' arrested in their career of victory, by the hun- 
place impulses of human nature, are no more 'dreds of our gallant defenders, as the sling of 
able to forma conception, than blindness, of the shepherd of Israel prostrated the Philis- 



the colors of the rainbow. 

^Of this race of men, James Monroe was 

one — not of those who did, or could take a 



tine, who defied the armies of the living God. 
And in this career both of adverse and of pros- 
perous fortune, James Monroe was one of that 



part in the preliminary controversy, or in the ' little Spartan band, scarcely more numerous. 
Declaration of Independence. He may be said though in the event more prosperous, than they 



almost to have been born with the question, for 
at the date of the Stamp Act, he was in the 
fifth year of his age ; but he was bred in the 
school of the prophets, and nurtured in the 
detestation of tyranny. His patriotism out- 
stripped the lingering march of time, and at 
the dawn of manhood, he joined the standard 
of his country. It was at the very period of 
the Declaration of Independence, issued as you 
know at the hour of severest trial to our country, 
when every aspect of her cause was unpropi- 
tious and gloomy. Mr. Monroe commenced 
his military career, as his country did that of 
her Independence, with adversity. He joined 
her standard when others were deserting it. 
He repaired to the head-quarters of Washing- 
ton at New York, precisely at the time when 
Britain was pouring her thousands of native 
and foreign mercenaries upon our shores ; 
7* 



who fell at Thermopylae. At the Heights of 
Hserlem, at the White Plains, at Trenton he 
was present, and in leading the vanguard at 
Trenton, received a ball, which sealed his 
patriotic devotion to his country's freedom with 
his blood. The superintending Providence 
which had decreed that on that, and a swiftly 
succeeding day, Mercer, and Hasplet, and Por- 
ter, and Neal, and Fleming, and Shippen, 
should join the roll of warlike dead, martyrs 
to the cause of liberty, reserved RIonroe for 
higher services, and for a long and illustrious 
career, in war and in peace. 

Recovered from his wound, and promoted in 
rank, as a reward for his gallantry and suffer- 
ing in the field, he soon returned to the Army, 
and served in the character of Aid-de-Catnp to 
Lord Sterling, through the campaigns of 1777 
and 1778: during which, he was present and 



78 



JAMES MONROE. 



distincruished in the actions of Brandy wine,; 
Germantown and Monmouth. But, having by 
this been superseded of his lineal rank in the 
Army, he withdrew from it, and failing, from 
the exhausted state of the country, in the effort 
to raise a regiment, for which, at the recom- 
mendation of Washington, he had been au- 
thorized by the Legislature of Virginia, he 
resumed the study of the law, under the friend- 
ly direction of the illustrious Jefferson, then 
Governor of that Commonwealth. In the ' 
succeeding years, he served occasionally as a 
volunteer, in defence of the State, against the j 
distressing invasions with which it was visit-; 
ed, and once, after the fall of Charleston, South 
Carolina, in 1780, at the request of Governor j 
Jefferson, repaired, as a military commissioner, 
to collect and report information with regard to 
the condition and prospects of the southern 
Army and States ; a trust, which he discharged 
to the entire satisfaction of the Governor and 
Executive, by whom it had been committed to 

him. 

In 1782, he was elected a member of the 
Legislature of Virginia, and, by them, a mem- 
ber of the Executive Council. On the 9ih of 
June, 1783, he was chosen a member of the 
Congress of the United States; and, on the 
thirteenth of December, of the same year, took 
his seat in that body, at Annapolis, where his 
first act was, to sit as one of those represen- 
tatives of the nation into whose hands the 
victorious leader of the American Armies sur- 
rendered his commission. Mr. Monroe was 
now twenty-four years of age, and had already 
performed that, in the service of his country, 
which would have sufficed for the illustration 
of an ordinary life. 

The first fruits of his youth had been given 
to her defence in war; the vigor and maturity 
of his manhood was now to be devoted to her 
welfare in council. The war of Independence 
closed as it had begun, by a transaction new 
under the sun. The fourth of July, 1776, had 
witnessed the social compact of a self-consti- 
tuted nation, formed by Peace and Union, in 
the midst of a calamitous and desolating war. 
To carry that nation through this war, the sole 
object of which, thenceforward, was the per- 
petual establishment of that self-proclaimed 
Independence, a Standing Army became indis- 
j-ensable. Temporary levies of undisciplined 
militia, and enlistments for a few weeks, or 



months, were soon found inadequate for defence 
against the veteran legions of the invader. — 
Enlistments for three years, were finally suc- 
ceeded by permanent engagements of service 
during the war. These forces were disbanded 
at the peace. Successive bands of warriors 
had maintained a conflict of seven years' dura- 
tion, but Washington had been the commander 
of them all. His commission, issued twelve 
months before the Declaration of Independence, 
had been commensurate with the war. He 
was the great military leader of the cause ; and 
so emphatically did he exemplify the position 1 
have assumed, that Providence prepares the 
characters of men, adapted to the emergencies 
in which they are to be placed, that, were it 
possible for the creative power of imagination 
to concentrate in one human individual person, 
the cause of American Independence, in all 
its moral grandeur and sublimity, that person 
would be no other than Washington. His 
career of public service was now at an end. 
The military leaders of other ages had not so 
terminated their public lives. Guslavus Vasa, 
William of Orange, the Duke of Braganza, 
from chieftains of popular rovolt, had settled 
into hereditary rulers over those whom they had 
contributed to emancipate. The habit of com- 
mand takes root so deep in the human heart, 
that Washington is perhaps the only example 
in human annals of one in which it was whol^ 
extirpated. In all other records of humanity, 
the heroes of patriotism have sunk into here- 
ditary Princes. Glorious achievements have 
always claimed magnificent rewards. Wash- 
INGTON, receiving from his country the mandate 
to fight the battles of her freedom, assumes the 
task at once with deep humility, and undaunt- 
ed confidence, disclaiming in advance all re- 
waid of profit, which it might be in her power 
to bestow. After eight years of unexampled 
perils, labors and achievements, the warfare 
is accomplished ; the cause in which he had 
drawn his sword, is triumphant; the isdepen- 
! dence of his country is established ; her union 
' cemented by a bond of confederation, the im- 
' perfection of which had not yet been disclosed; 
he comes to the source whence he first derived 
' his authority, and, in the face of mankind, sur- 
' renders the truncheon of command, restores the 
'commission, the object of which had been so 
' gloriously accomplished, and returns to mingle 
with the mass of his fellow citizens, in the 



JAMES MONROE . 



79 



retirement of private life, and the bosom of 
domestic felicity. 

Three years, from 1783 to 1786, Mr. Monroe 
continued a member of the Confederate Con- 
gress, and had continual opportunity of observ- 
ing the utter inefficiency of that Compact for 
the preservation and welfare of the Union. 

The union of the North American Colonies, 
may be aptly compared to the poetical creation 
cf the world : 

From Harmony — from Heavenly Harmony 

This universal frame began ; 
When Nature, underneath an heap 

Of jarring atoms lay, 

And could not heave her head — 
The tuneful voice was heard from high 
Arise, ye more than dead, 
Then cold and hot, and moist and dry, 

In order to their stations leap. 
And Music's power obey. 

Such, with more than poetical truth, was the 
creation of the American Union. 

When, on the fifth of September, 1774, a 
number of the delegates chosen and appointed 
by the several colonies and provinces in North 
America, to meet and hold a Congress at Phil- 
adelphia, assembled at the Carpenter's Hall, — 
on that same day, a new nation was created : 
then, indeed, it was but in embryo. Neither 
• Independence, nor self-government, nor perma- 
nent confederation, were of the purposes for 
which that Congress was convened. It was 
to draw up and exhibit statements of the com- 
mon grievances; to consult and confer upon 
the common violated rights; to address their 
fellow-subjects of Great Britain, and of the 
colonies, with complaint of wrongs endured, 
and humbly to petition his most excellent 
majesty, their most gracious sovereign, for 
redress. These purposes were performed, and 
totally failed of success ; but the Union was 
formed; the seed of Independence was sown ; 
and the Congress, after a session of seven 
weeks, on the twenty-sixth of October, dis- 
solved. 

When the second Congress met, on the 10th 
of May, 1775, the war had already commenc- 
ed : blood had flowed in streams at Concord 
and Lexington ; and scarcely had they been a 
month in session, when the fires of Charles- 
town ascended to an avenging heaven ; and | 
Warren fell a martyr to the cause of the Union 



before that of Independence was even born. — 
Still, the powers and instructions of the de- 
legates extended only to concert, agree upon, 
direct, and order such further measures as 
should, to them, appear to be best calculated 
for the recovery and establishment of Ameri- 
can rights and liberties, and for restoring har- 
mony between Great Britain and the colonies. 

These objects were pursued with steadi- 
ness, perseverance, and sincerity, till the peo- 
ple, whom they represented, sickened at the 
humiliations to which they submitted; till in- 
sult heaped upon injury, and injury superadded 
to insult, aggravated the burden to a point be- 
yond endurance: the decree of the people went 
forth: the whole people of the United Colonies 
declared them Independent States: the nation 
was born ; like the first of the human race, 
issuing, full grown and perfect, from the hands 
of his Maker. 

But while this Independence, thus declared, 
was to be maintained by a war, — of the suc- 
cessful issue of which, all spirit, but that ot^ 
heroic martyrdom, might well despair — all the 
institutions of organized authority were to be 
created. By an act of primitive sovereignty, 
the people of the colonies annihilated all the 
civil authorities by which they had been go- 
verned : as one corporate body, they declared 
themselves a member of the community of 
civilized, but independent nations, — acknowl- 
edging the Christian Code of natural and con- 
ventional laws, — united, already, by solemn 
compact, but without organized government, 
either for the Union, or for the separate mem- 
bers ; also, corporate and associated bodies, of 
which it was composed. 

The position of the people of these colonies 
on that day, was indeed a new thing under the 
sun. The nature and character of the war was 
totally changed. Their relation?, individual 
and collective, towards one another, towards 
the government and people of Great Britain, 
towards all the rest of mankind, were changed; 
they were men in society, and yet had reverted 
to the state of nature; they had no government, 
no fundamental laws. Inhabiting a territory 
more extensive than all Europe, previously 
divided into thirteen communities, little sym- 
pathizing with one another, and actuated by 
principles more of mutual repulsion, than at- 
traction, with elements for legislation not only 
various, but hostile to each other, they were 



80 



JAMES MONROE 



called at one and the same time to wage a war 1 pare and digest the form of a confederation to 
of unparalleled difficulty and danger. To trans- be entered into between the colonies, and a 
fer their duties of allegiance, and their rights third Committee to prepare a plan of treaties 
of protection from the Sovereign of their birth , to be proposed to foreign powers, 
to the new republic of their own creation; and Thus far there had been no diversity of opi- 
to rebuild the superstructure of civil society, i nion among those whose minds were made up 
by a complicated government, adequate to their for the Declaration of Independence. The 
wants ; a firm, compact and energetic whole, people of each colony were to construct their 



own form of Government : a form of Confede- 
ration was to be prepared for the whole. The 
history of mankind, ancient and modern, pre- 
sented several examples of confederated Slates, 



composed of thirteen entire independent parts. 
The first and most urgent of their duties, be- 
cause in its nature it admitted of no delay, was 
to provide for the maintenance and conduct of ^ 
the war; but with all its difficulties, that was not one of a confederated Government; and 
the least arduous of their duties. To organ- Seven of former confederations there was not 
ize the government of a mighty empire, was one which extended over a territory equal to 
A task which had never before been performed j that of one member of the American Union, 
by man. The undertaking formed an era in ' For a confederated Government, the people of 
the annals of the human race ; an era far sur- the colonies were utterly unprepared. The 
passing in importance all others since the ap- constitutions of the States were formed with- 
pearance of the Saviour upon earth. out much difficulty, and, after more than half a 

There were fortunately a few fundamental century, although we have witnessed frequent 
'principles upon which there was among the ' and numerous changes in their organization, 
proclaimers of Independence, aperfect unanimi- there have been scarcely any of important prin- 
ty of opinion. The first of these was that the ' ciple. The great features of the political sys- 
Union already formed between the Colonies j tern upon which American Independence was 
should be permanent— perpetual— indissoluble, declared, remain unchanged— bright in immor- 



The second, that it should be a confederated 
Union, of which each Colony should be an 
independent Slate. Self governed by its own 
municipal Code — but of which each citizen, 
should be also a citizen of the whole. The 
third, that the whole confederation, and each 
of its members, should be republican ; without 
hereditary monarch, without privileged orders. 
On the tenth of May, preceding the Declara- 
tion of Independence, Congress had passed a 
resolution, recommending to the several Colo- 
nies to adopt such Government as should, in 
the opinion of the Representatives of the peo- 
ple, best conduce to the happiness and safety 
of their constituents in particular, and Ameri- 
ca in general ; and in the preamble to this 
Resolution, adopted five days later, they as- 



tal youth. For Union, lor Independence, for 
self-government, the elements were all at hand, 
and they were homogeneous. There was no 
seed of discord and of strife among them. For 
the structure of the confederacy it was not so. 
There was first a general spirit of distrust and 
jealousy against the investment of the federal 
head with power. There were then local and 
sectional prejudices, interests and passions, 
tending to reciprocal discontents and enmities. 
There were diversities in the tenure and cha- 
racter of property in the difTerent States, not 
altogether harmonizing with the cause of Inde- 
pendence itself. There were controversies ot 
boundaries between many of the contiguous 
colonies, and questions of deeper vitality, to 
whom the extra-territorial lands, without the 



signed as the reason for it the necessity that bounds of the colonial charters, but within the 
the exercise of every kind of authority under j compass of the federative domain, would be- 
the crown of Great Britain, should be totally long T So powerfully did these causes of 
suppressed, and all the powers of Government discord operate, even in the midst of the strug- 
cxercised under the authority r/ the people '/ gle for Independence, that nearly five years 
the Culonies. j elapsed after the Declaration, before the con- 

And on the eleventh of June, 1776, the same sent of the States could be obtained to the Arti- 
day upon which the Committee was appointed cles of Confederation. 



to report the Declaration of Independence, it was 
resolved to appoint another Committee to pre- 



This experiment, as is well known, proved 
a total failure. The Articles of Confederation 



JAMES MONROE . 



81 



were ratified by ten of the States as early as 
July, 1778. Maryland withheld her assent to 
them until March, 1781, when it first went into 
operation : and even then one of its principal 
defects was so generally perceived and fore- 
seen, that on the preceding third of February, 
Congress had adopted a Resolution, declaring 
it indispensably necessary that they should be 
vested with a power to levy an impost duty of 
five per cent, to pay the public debt. Even 
this power some of the States refused to grant. 
In December 1783, when Mr. Monroe took 
his seat in Congress, the first act of that body 
should have been to ratify the definitive treaty 
of peace with Great Britain, which had been 
signed at Paris on the preceding third of Sep- 
tember. That treaty was the transaction which 
closed the revolutionary war, and settled for- 
ever the question of American Independence. 
It was stipulated that its ratifications should 
be exchanged within six months from the day 
of its signature ; and we can now scarcely be- 
lieve it possible, that but for a mere accident, 
the faith of the nation would have been violat- 
ed, and the treaty itself cancelled, for want 
of a power in Congress to pass it through 
the mere formalities of ratification. By the 
articles of confederation, no treaty could be 
concluded without the assent of nine States. — 
Against the ratification there was not a voice 
throuohout the Union : but onlv seven States 
were assembled in Congress. Then came a 
captious debate, whether the act of ratifica- 
tion was a mere formality for which seven 
States were as competent as nine, or whether 
it was the very medullary substance of a Trea- 
ty, which, unless assented to by nine States, 
would be null and void — a monstrous and 
tyrannical usurpation. 
• All the powers of government, in free eoun- 

( tries, emanate from the people : all organized 
and operative power exists by delegation from 
the people. Upon these two pillars is erected 
the whole fabric of our freedom. That all ex- 
ercise of organized power should be for the 
benefit of the people, is the first maxim of 
government; and in the delegation of power 
to the government, the problem to be solved 
is the most extensive possible grant of power 
to be exercised for the common good; with the 
most effective possible guard against its abuse 
to the injury of any one. Our fathers, who 
formed the confederation, witnesses to the re- 



cent abuse of organized power, and sufferers 
by it, mistook the terms of the problem before 
them, and thought that the only security against 
the abuse of power, was stinginess of grant 
in its organization : not duly considering that 
power not delegated, cannot be exercised for 
the common good, and that the denial of it, to 
their government, is equivalent to the abdica- 
tion of it by themselves. All impotence of the 
government, therefore, thus becomes the impo- 
tence of the people who formed it ; and in its 
result places the nation itself on a footing of 
inferiority, compared with others in the com- 
munity of independent nations. Nor did they 
sufficiently foresee that this excessive caution 
to withhold beneficent power in the organic 
frame of government, necessarily and unavoid- 
ably leads to usurpation of it. The Ordinance 
for the Government of the north-western Ter- 
ritory, was a signal example of this course of 
things under the Articles of Confederation. A 
perusal of the journals of Congress, public and 
secret, from the year 1778, when the Articles 
of Confederation were completed, and partially 
adopted, till 1789, when they were superse- 
ded by the present Constitution of the United 
States, will give the liveliest and most perfect 
idea of the character of the Confederation, and 
of the condition of the Union under it. Among» 
the mischievous consequences of the inability 
of Congress to administer the affairs of the 
Union, was the waste of time and talents of 
the most eminent patriots of the country, in 
captious, irritating and fruitless debates. The 
commerce, the public debt, the fiscal concerns, 
the foreign relations, the public lands, the ob- 
ligations to the revolutionary veterans, the 
intercourse of war and peace with the Indian 
tribes, were all subjects upon which the bene- 
ficent action of Congress w'as necessary ; 
while at every step, and upon every subject, 
they were met by the same insurmountable 
barrier of interdicted or undelegated power. — 
These observations may be deemed not inap- 
propriate to the apology for Mr. Monroe, and 
for all the distinguished patriots associated 
with him, during his three years of service in 
the Congress of the Confederation, in contem- 
plating the slender results of benefit to the 
public in all the service which it was possible 
for them, thus cramped and crippled, to render. 
Within the appropriate sphere of action, 
however, to which the powers of Congress 



S2 



JTAMES MONROE. 



were competent Mr. Monroe took a distinguish- 
ed part. That body often resolved itself into 
a Committee of the Whole, to deliberate upon 
an empty Treasury, upon accumulating debts, 
and clamorous creditors; upon urgent recom- 
mendations to the State Legislatures, which 
some of them would adopt, simply, and some 
conditionally; others, indefinitely postpone; 
some, leave without answer; and others, stur- 
dily rpject. This Committee of the Whole 
referred every knotty subject to a Select Com- 
mittee, from whom they would in due time 
receive an able, and thoroughly reasoned Re- 
port, which they would debate by paragraphs, 
and finally reject for some other debatable 
substitute, or adopt with numerous amend- 
ments, and after many a weary record of yeas 
and nays. 

On the eighteenth of April, 1783, the Reso- 
lution of Congress had passed, declaring it 
absolutely necessary that they should be vested 
with a power to levy an impost of five per cent. 
On the thirtieth of April, 1784, another Re- 
solution was adopted, recommending to the 
Legislatures of the States to grant to Congress 

O IS D 

the pov. er of regulating commerce. And on 
the thirteenth of July, 1785, Congress debated 
the Report of a Committee of which Mr. Mon- 
tnoE was the Chairman, combining the objects 
[of both those prior Resolutions, and proposing 
such alteration of the Articles of the Confede- 
ration, as was necessary to vest Congress with 
the power both to regulate commerce, and to 
levy an impost duty. These measures were 
not abortive, inasmuch as they were progres- 
sive steps in the march towards better things. 
They led first to the partial convention of de- 
legates from five States, at Annapolis, in Sep- 
tember 1786 ; and then to the general conven- 
tion at Philadelphia, in 1787, which prepared 
and proposed the Constitution of the United 
States. Whoever contributed to that event, is 
justly entitled to the gratitude of the present 
age, as a public benefactor; and among them 
tl'.e name of Monroe should be conspicuously 
enrolled. 

Among the very few powers which, by the 
Articles of Confederation, had been vested in 
Congress, was that of constituting a Court of 
Commissioners, selected from its own body, to 
decide upon any disputed question of boundary, 
jurisdiction, or any other cause whatever, be- 
tween any two Stales in the Union. These 



Commissioners were in the first instance, to be 
chosen, with mutual consent, by the agents of 
the two States, parties to the controversy ; the 
final determination of which was submitted to 
them. 

Such a controversy had taken place between 
the States of Massachusetts and New York, 
the agents of which attending in Congress in 
December, 1781, agreed upon nine persons, to 
constitute the federal court, to decide the ques- 
tion between the parties. Of these nine per- 
sons, James Monroe was one: a distinction, in 
the twenty-sixth year of his age, indicating the 
high estimation in which he was already held 
throughout the Union. The subsequent his- 
tory of this controversy to its final and friendly 
settlement, affords an illustration coinciding 
with numberless others, of the imbecility of 
the confederacy. On the twenty-first of March, 
1785, Congress were informed by a letter from 
Mr. Monroe, that he accepted the appointment 
of one of the Judges of the Federal Court, to 
decide the controversy. On the ninth of June 
following, the agents from the contending States 
reported to Congress that they had agreed upon 
three persons, whom they named, as Judges of 
the federal Court, instead of three of those who 
had been appointed the preceding December, 
but had declined accepting their appointment : 
and the agents requested that a commission 
might be issued to the Court, as finally con- 
stituted, to meet at Williamsburg, in Virginia, 
on the third Tuesday of November, then next, 
to hear and determine the controversy. 

On the second of November, of the same 
year, a representation was made by the agents 
of the two States, to Congress, that such had 
been the difficulties and delays in obtaining 
answers from several of the Judges, that the 
parties were left in suspense even to that houf; 
a hearing had thus been prevented, and further 
procrastination was unavoidable. They peti-| 
tioned, therefore, that the hearing should be 
remitted to such a day as the parties should 
agree upon, and thereafter certify to Congress 
— and a Resolution passed accordingly. 

On the fifteenth of May, 1786, a letter was 
received by Congress from Mr. Monroe, in- 
forming them that some circumstances would 
put it out of his power to act as a Judge for the 
decision of this controversy, and resigning his 
commission. 

On the twenty-seventh of September follow- 



J A ME S MONROE 



83 



ing, Congress were informed by the agents of 
the parties, that they had agreed upon a person 
to be a Judge, in the place of Mr. Monroe, and 
they requested that a new commission miglit be 
issued to the Court. The Court never met, for 
on the sixteenth of December, 1786, the litigat- 
ing parties, by their respective agents at Hart- 
ford, in Connecticut, settled the controversy by 
agreement, between themselves, and to theii* 
mutual satisfaction. Of this the agents gave 
notice to Congress on the eighth of October, 
1787, and they moved that the attested copy of 
the agreement between the two States, which 
they laid before Congress, should be filed in 
the Secretary's office — which was refused ; that 
body declining even to keep upon their files the 
evidence of an accord between two members 
of the Union, concluded otherwise than as the 
Articles of Confederation had prescribed. 

Mr. Monroe did not assign, in his letter to 
Congress, his reasons for resigning the trust 
which he had previously consented to assume. 
They were probably motives of delicacy, high- 
ly creditable to his character: motives, flowing 
from a source 

" Beyond the fix'd and settled rules 
Of vice and virtue in the schools : " 

motives, emanating from a deep and conscien- 
tious morality, of which men of coarser minds 
are denied the perception, and which, while 
exerting unresisted sway over the conduct ac- 
tuated by them, retire into the self-conviction 
of their own purity. Between the period when 
Mr. Monroe had accepted, and that when he 
withdrew from the office of a Judge between 
the Stales of Massachusetts and New York, 
discussions had arisen in Congress, relating to 
a negotiation with Spain, in the progress of 
which, varying views of public policy were 
sharpened and stimulated by varying sectional 
interests, to a point of painful collision. 
^ After the conclusion of the general peace at 
Paris, in 1783, Spain, then a feeble and super- 
annuated monarchy, governed by corrupt, pro- 
fligate and perfidious councils, possessed with 
other colonies of stupendous territorial extent, 
the mouths of the Mississippi, and both the 
shores of that father of ihe floods, from his first 
entrance into this continent, to a considerable 
extent inland. Above the thirty-first degree of 
latitude, the territorial settlements of the Unit- 
ed States were spreading in their incipient but 



gigantic infancy, along his eastern banks and 
on both shores of the mighty rivers, which 
contribute to his stream. Spain, by virtue of 
a conventional, long settled, but abusive prin- 
ciple of international law, disavowed by the 
law of nature, interdicted the downward navi- 
gation of the Mississippi to the borders upon 
the shores above her line; on the bare plea 
that both sides of the river were within her 
domain at the mouth. And well knowing that 
the navigation was equivalent almost to a ne- 
cessary of life to the American settlers above, 
she formed the project at once of dallying ne- 
gotiation with the new American Republic, to 
purchase by some commercial privilege, her 
assent to a temporary exclusion from the navi- 
gation of the Mississippi, and of tampeiing 
with the same American settlers, to seduce 
them from their allegiance to their own coun- 
try, by the prospect of enjoying under her 
dominion as Spanish subjects, the navigation 
of the river, from which they were excluded 
as citizens of the United States. 

In the collision between the claim of the 
United States of right to navigate the Missis- 
sippi by the laws of nature, and the treaty of 
peace with Great Britain, and the actual inter- 
diction of that navigation by Spain, founded 
upon the usages of nations, hostilities between 
the two nations had already taken place. A 
citizen of the United States descending the 
Mississippi, had been feized and imprisoned 
at Natchez ; and a retaliatory seizure of the 
Spanish post at Vincennes had been effected by 
citizens of the United States. According to all 
appearances, an immediate war with Spain, for 
the navigation of the Mississippi, or a compro- 
mise of the question by negotiation, was the 
only alternative which Congress had before 
them, and here again appeared a melancholy 
manifestation of the imbecility of the Union 
under the Articles of Confederation. 

A diplomatic agent of the lowest order, un- 
der the title of Encargardo de JVegocius, had 
been appointed by the king of Spain to reside 
in the United States, and had been with much 
formality received by Congress, in July, 1785. 
Though possessed of full powers to conclude a 
treaty, he had not the rank of a Minister Plen- 
ipotentiary, and his title, otherwise unexampled 
in European diplomacy, was significant of the 
estimation in which his Catholic Majesty held 
the new American Kepublic. Immediately 



84 



JAMES MONROE. 



after his reception, the Secretary of Congress i inauspicious controversy, the delegates from 
for Foreign Affairs, John Jay, of New Yorli, Massachusetts, and among them especially 
was commissioned to negotiate with the Span- j Rufus King, took a warm and distinguished 
ish Encargardoi but instructed, previously to , part in favor of the proposition of the Secreta- 
liis making propositions to the Spaniard, or ' ry, while the opposition to it was maintained 
agreeing with him on any article, compact or , with an earnestness equally intense, and with 
convention, to communicate the same to Con- 1 ability not less powerful by the delegation from 
gress. On the 25ih of August ensuing, thisjj^irginia, and among them, pre-eminently, by 
instruction was repealed, and another substilut- i Mr. Monroe. In reviewing at this distance of 
ed in its place, directing him in his plan of time the whole subject, a candid and impartial 
treaty, particularly to stipulate the right of the observer cannot fail to perceive that much of 



United States to their territorial bounds and 
the free navigation of the Mississippi, from the 



the bitterness which mingled itself unavoida- 
bly in the contest, arose from the nature of the 



source to the ocean, as established in their Contederacy, and the predominant obligation 



treaties with Great Britain ; and to conclude 
no treaty, compact or convention with Mr. Gar- 
doqui, without previously communicating it to 
Congress, and receiving their approbation. 



under which each delegate felt himself to main- 
tain the interests of his own State and section 
of the Union. The adverse interests and op- 
posite views of policy brought into conflict by 



The navigation of the Mississippi soon prov- these transactions, produced a coldness and 
ed an insurmountable bar to the progress of i mutual alienation between the Northern and 
the negotiation. It was, t/e /ado, interdicted i Southern divisions of the Union, which is not 
by Spain. The right to it could be enforced extinguished to this day. It gave rise to 
only by war, and violence on both sides had j rankling jealousies and festering prejudices, 
already taken place. Spain denied the right of not only of the North and South against each 
the people of the United States to navigate the other, but of each section against the ablest 



Mississippi as pertinaciously and in as lofty a 
tone as Great Britain denies to us, on the same 
pretence, to this day, the right of navigating 
ihe St. Lawrence. After many ineffectual 
conferences with the Spanish negociator, the 
Secretary of Foreign Affairs requested farther 
instructions from Congress, and in a personal 
address to that body, recommended to them a 
compromise with Spain, by the proposal of a 
commercial treaty in which for an adequate equi- 
valent of commercial advantages to the United 



and most virtuous patriots of tho other. As 
by the Articles of Confederation, no treaty 
could be concluded but with the concurrence 
of nine States, the authority to make the pro- 
posal recommended by the Secretary was not 
given. The negotiation with Spain was trans- 
ferred to the Government of the United States, 
as organized by the present National Constitu- 
tion. The right of navigating the Mississippi 
from its source to the ocean, with a deposit at 
New Orleans, was within seven years there- 



States, they, without renouncing the right to the j after, conceded to the United States by Spain, 



navigation of the Mississippi, should stipulate 
a forbearance of the exercise of that right for a 
term of twenty-five or thirty years, to which the 
duration of the treaty should be limited. 

This proposal excited the most acrimonious 
and irritated struggle between the delegations 
from the Northern and Southern divisions of 
the Union, which had ever occurred. The re 
presentation from the seven Northern States, 
unanimously agreeing to authorize the slip 



in a solemn treaty, and within twenty years 
from the negotiation with the Encargardo, the 
Mississippi himself with all his waters and 
all his shores, had passed from the dominion of 
Spain, and become part of the United States. 
In all the proceedings relating to the naviga- 
tion of the Mississippi, from the reception of 
Mr. Gardoqui, till the acquisition of Louisiana 
and its annexation to the United States, the 
agency of Mr. Monroe was conspicuous above 
iion recommended by the Secretary, and the [ all others. He took the lead in the opposition 
five Southern States, with the exception of one to the recommendation of Mr. Jay. He sign- 



/.: 



lies, \; 
ula- 1 



member, being equally earnest for rejecting it. 
The State of Delaware was not then represent- 
ed. In the animated and passionate debates, 
on a series of questions originating in this 



ed, in conjunction with another eminent citizen 
of the State of New York, Robert R. Livings- 
ton, the Treaty which gave us Louisiana : and 
during his administration, as President of the 



James monroe. 



85 



United States, the cession of the Floridas was 
consummated. His system of policy, relating 
to this great interest, was ultimately crowned 
with complete success. That which he oppo- 
sed, might have severed or dismembered the 
Union. Far be it from me ; far, I know, would 
it be from the heart of Mr. Monroe himself, to 
speak it, in censure of those illustrious states- 
men, who, in the infancy of the nation, and in 
the helplessness of the Confederation, prefer- 
red a temporary forbearajice of a merely poten- 
tial and interdicted right, to the apparent and 
imminent prospect of unavoidable war. Let 
those who would censure them look to the 
_ circumstances of the times, and to the honest 
partialities of their own bosoms, and then 
extend to the memory of those deceased bene- 
factors of their country that candor, in the 
construction of conduct and imputation of mo- 
tives, which they will hereafter assuredly need 
themselves. 

It was in the heat of the temper, kindled by 
this cause of discord, in the federal councils, 
that Mr. Monroe resigned his commission as 
a judge between the States of Massachusetts 
and New York. The opinions of both those 
States, indeed coincided together, in variance 
from that which he entertained upon the absorb- 
ing interest of the right to navigate the Mis- 
sissippi, But he beheld their countenance — 
" that it was not toward him as before. " He 
felt there was no longer the same confidence in 
the dispositions of North and South to each 
other, which had existed when the selection of 
him had been made; and he withdrew from 
the invidious duty of deciding between parties, 
with either of whom he no longer enjoyed the 
satisfaction of a cordial harmony. 

By the Articles of Confederation no delegate 
in Congress was eligible to serve more than 
three years in six. Towards the close of 1786, 
the term of Mr. Monroe's service in that capa- 
city expired. During that term, and while 
Congress were in session at New York, he 
formed a matrimonial connexion with Miss 
Kortright, daughter of Mr. L. Kortright, of an 

ancient and respectable family of that State. ' 

This lady, of whose personal attractions and ' 
accomplishments it were impossible to speak I 
in terms of exaggeration, was, for a period I 
little short of half a century, the cherished and | 
affectionate partner of his life and fortunes. 
She accompanied him in all his journeyings 
8 



through this world of care, from which, by the 
dispensation of Providence, she had been re- 
moved only a few months before himself. The 
companion of his youth was the solace of his 
declining years, and to the close of life enjoyed 
the testimonial of his affection, that with the 
external beauty and elegance of deportment, 
conspicuous to all who were honored with her 
acquaintance, she united the more precious and 
endearing qualities which mark the fulfilment 
of all the social duties, and adorn with grace, 
and fill with enjoyment, the tender relations of 
domestic life. 

After his retirement from service in the Con- 
federation Congress, assuming, with a view to 
practice at the bar, a temporary residence at 
Fredericksburg, he was almost immediately 
elected toa seat in the Legislature of Virginia ; 
and the ensuing year, to the Convention, sum- 
moned in that Commonvveaith, to discuss and 
decide upon the Constitution of the United 
States. 

Mr. Monroe was deeply penetrated with the 
conviction that a great and radical change, in 
the Articles of Confederation, was indispen- 
sable, even for the preservation of the Union. 
But, in common with Patrick Henry, George 
^ Mason, and many other patriarchs of the Revo- 
j lution, his mind was not altogether prepared 
J for that which was, in truth, a revolution far 
I greater than the severance of the United Ame- 
j rican Colonies from Great Britain: a revolu- 
I tion accomplishing that which the Declara- 
J tion of Independence had only conceived and 
proclaimed : substituting a Constitution of 
Government for a people, instead of a mere 
Confederation of States. So great and mo- 
mentous was this change, so powerful the 
mass of patriotism and wisdom, as well as of 
interest, prejudice and passion, arrayed against 
it, that we should hazard little, in considerino- 
the final adoption and establishment of the 
Constitution, as the greatest triumph of pure 
and peaceful intellect, recorded in the annals 
of the human race. By the Declaration of In- 
dependence the people of the United States 
had assumed and announced to the world their 
; united personality as a Nation, consisting of 
thirteen Independent States. They had there- 
by assumed the exercise of primitive sovereign 
power: that is to say, the sovereignty of the 
, people. The administrative power of such a 
j people, could, however, be exercised only by 



86 



JAMES MONROE, 



delegation. Their first attempt was to exercise 
it by confining the powers of government to the 
separate members of the Union, and delegating 
only the powers of a confederacy to the collec- 
tive body. This experiment was deliberately 
and thoroughly made and totally failed. In 
other ages and other climes the consequences 
of that failure would have been anarchy: com- 
plicated and long continued wars: perhaps, 
ultimately, one consolidated military monarchy 
— elective or hereditary : perhaps two or three 
confederacies — always militant; with border 
wars, occasionally intermitted, with barrier 
treaties, impregnable fortresses, rivers herme- 
tically sealed, and the close sea of a Pacific 
Ocean. One Standing Army would have bred 
its antagonist, and between them they would 
have engendered a third, to sit like chaos at 
the gates of Hell, 

" Umpire of the strife, 
And, by decision, more embroil the fray." 

Not so did the people of the North American 
Union. They adhered to their first experiment 
of Confederacy, till it was falling to pieces, 
in its immedicable weakness. After frequent, 
long and patient ineffectual struggles to sustain 
and strengthen it, a small and select body of 
them, by authority of a few of the State Legis- 
latures, convened together to confer upon the 
evils which the country was suffering, and to 
consult upon the remedy to be proposed. This 
body advised the assembly of a Convention, in 
which all the States should be represented. — 
Eleven of them did so assemble, with Wash- 
ington at their head; with Franklin, Madison, 
Hamilton, King, Langdon, Sherman, John Rut- 
ledge, and compeers of fame, scarcely less 
resplendent, for members. They immediately 
perceived that the Union, and a mere Confede- 
racy, were incompatible things. They propos- 
ed, prepared and presented, for acceptance, 
a Constitution of Government for the whole 
people: a plan, retaining so much of the fede- 
rative character, as to preserve, unimpaired, 
the independent and wholesome action of the 
separate State Governments ; and infusing into 
the whole body the vital energy necessary for 
free and efficient action upon all subjects of 
common interest and national concernment. — 
This plan was then submitted to the examina- 
tion, scrutiny and final judgment of the people, 
assembled by Representative Conventions, in 



every State of the Confederacy. To the small 
portion of my auditory, whose memory can 
retrace the path of time back to that eventful 
period, I appeal for the firm belief that, when 
that plan was first exhibited to the solemn con- 
sideration of the people, though presented by 
a body of men, enjoying a mass of public con- 
fidence far greater than any other, of equal 
numbers, then living, could have possessed, it 
was yet, by a considerable, not to say a large 
numerical majority, of the whole people, sin- 
cerely, honestly and heartily disapproved. It 
was disapproved, not only by all those who 
perseveringly adhered to the rejection of it, but 
by great numbers of those who reluctantly 
voted for accepting it; considering it then as 
the only alternative to a dissolution of the 
Union: and of those who voted for it, of its 
most ardent and anxious supporters, it may, 
with equal confidence be affirmed, that no one 
ever permitted his imagination to anticipate, or 
his hopes to conceive the extent of the contrast 
in the condition of the North American people 
under that new social compact, with what it 
had been under the Confederation which it was 
to supersede. 

It was, doubtless, among the dispensations 
of a wise and beneficent Providence, that the 
severe and pertinacious investigation of this 
Constitution, as a whole, and in all its minutest 
parts, by the Convention of all the States, and 
in the admirable papers of the Federalist, 
should precede its adoption and establishment. 
It may be truly said to have passed through an 
ordeal of more than burning ploughshares. — 
Never, in the action of a whole people, was 
obtained so signal a triumph of cool and de- 
liberate judgment, over ardent feeling, and 
honest prejudices: and never was a people 
more signally rewarded for so splendid an ex- 
ample of popular self-control. 

That Mr. Monroe, then, was one of those 
enlightened, faithful and virtuous patriots, who 
opposed the adoption of the Constitution, can 
no more detract from the eminence of his ta- 
lents, or the soundness of his principles, than 
the project for the temporary abandonment of 
the right to navigate the Mississippi, can im- 
pair those of the eminent citizens of New 
York and Massachusetts, by whom that mea- 
sure was proposed. During a Statesman's life, 
an estimate of his motives will necessarily 
mingle itself with every judgment upon his con- 



JAMES MONROE 



87 



duct, and that judgment will often be swayed 
more by the concurring or adverse passions of 
the observer, than by reason, or even by the 
merits of the cause. Candor, in the estimate 
of motives, is rarely the virtue of an adversary ; 
but it is an indispensable duty before the defini- 
tive tribunal of posthumous renown. 

When in the Legislature of Virginia, the 
question was discussed upon calling a State 
Convention to decide upon the Constitution of 
the United States, Mr. Monroe took no part 
in the debate. He then doubted of the course 
which it would be most advisable to pursue. — 
Whether to adopt the Constitution in the hope 
that certain amendments which he deemed ne- 
cessary, would afterwards be obtained, or to 
suspend the decision upon the Constitution 
itself, until those amendments should have 
been secured. When elected to the Conven- 
tion, he expressed those doubts to his consti- 
tuents assembled at the polls ; but his opinion 
having afterwards and before the meeting of 
the Convention, settled into a conviction, that 
the amendments should precede the acceptance 
of the Constitution, he addressed to his con- 
stituents a letter, stating his objections to that 
instrument, which letter was imperfectly print- 



Legislature of Virginia. At the organization 
of the government of the United States, the 
first Senators from that State, were Richard 
Henry Lee and William Grayson. The de- 
cease of the latter in December 1789, made a 
vacancy which was immediately supplied by 
the election of Mr. Monroe ; and in that capa- 
city he served until May, 1794, when he was 
appointed, at the nomination of President 
Washington, Minister Plenipotentiary to the 
Republic of France. 

The two great parties which so long divided 
the feelings and the councils of our common 
country, under the denominations of Federal 
and anti-Federal, originated with the Union. — 
The Union itself had been formed by the im- 
pulse of an attraction irresistible as the adamant 
of the magnet and scarcely less mystical. It 
was an union however of subject colonies, then 
making no claim or pretension to sovereign 
power. But from the hour of the Declaration 
of Independence, it became necessary to pro- 
vide for the perpetuity of the Union, and to 
organize the administration of its affairs. The 
extent of power to be conferred on the repre- 
sentative body of the Union, became from that 
instant an object of primary magnitude, divid- 



ed, and copies of it were sent by him to several ' ing opinions and feelings. Union was desired 



distinguished characters, among whom were 
General Washington, Mr. Jefferson, and Mr. 
Madisoa, who viewed it with liberality and 
candor. 

In the Convention, Mr. Monroe took part in 
the debate, and in one of his speeches entered 
fully into the merits of the subject. He was 
decidedly for a change, and a very important 



one, in the then existing system ; but the Con.i^ederalists. To show the influence of names 



stitution reported, had in his opinion defects 
requiring amendment, which should be made 
before its adoption. 

The Convention, however, by a majority of 
less than ten votes of one hundred and seventy, 
resolved to adopt the Constitution, with a pro- 
posal of amendments to be engrafted upon it. 
Such too, was the definitive conclusion in all 
the other States, although two of them lingered 
one or two years after it was in full operation 
by authority of all the rest, before their acqui- 
escence in the decision. 

By the course which Mr. Monroe had pur- 
sued on this great occasion, although it left 
him for a short time in the minority, yet he lost 
not the confidence either of the people or of the 



by all — but many were averse even to a con- 
federacy. They would have had a league or 
alliance, offensive and defensive, but not even 
a permanent confederacy or Congress. It was 
the party which anxiously urged the adoption 
of the Articles of Confederation, who thereby 
acquired the appellation of Federalists, as their 
adversaries were known by the name of Anti- 



over things, we may remark that when the 
Constitution of the United States was debat- 
ed, it formed the first great and direct issue 
between the parties, which retained their 
names, but had in reality completely changed 
sides. The Federalists of the Confederacy 
had abandoned that sinking ship. They might 
then with much more propriety have been called 
Nationalists. The real Federalists were the 
opposers of the Constitution ; for ihey adhered 
to the principle, and most of them would have 
been willing to amend the Articles of Confede- 
ration. This incongruity of name shortly after- 
wards became so glaring, that the Anti-Fede- 
ralists laid theirs aside, and assumed the name 
sometimes of Republicans and sometimes of 



88 



JAMES MONROE. 



Democrats. The name of Republicans is not j throughout ihe land. The first partialities of 
a suitable denomination of a party of the Uni-, the nation were in favor of France; prompted 
ted States, because it implies an offensive and , both by the remembrances of tiie recent war 
unjust imputation upon their opponents, as if for American Independence, and by the impres- 



tliey were not also Republicans. The truth is, 
as it Wiis declared by Thomas Jefferson, all 



sion then almost universal, that her cause vyas 
identified with that which had so lately been 



are, and all from the Declaration of Indepen- our own. Uut when Revolutionary France 
I dence have been, Republicans. Speculative became one great army; when the first corn- 
opinions in favor of a more energetic govern ; mentary upon her proclamations of freedom, 
raent on one side, and of a broader range of and her disclaimer of conquest, was the annex- 
Democratic rule on the other, have doubtless ation of Belgium to her territories; when the 
been entertained by individuals, but both par- blood of her fallen monarch was but a drop of 



ties have been disposed to exercise the full 
measure of their authority when in power, and 
both have been equally refractory to the man- 
dates of authority when out. In the primitive 
principles of the parties, the Federalists were 
disposed to consider the first principle of So- 
ciety to be the preservation of order; while 
their opponents viewed the benefit above all 
others in the enjoyment of liberty. The first 
explosion of the French Revolution, was co- 
temporaneous with the first organization of the 
government of the United Slates ; and France 
and Groat Britain were shortly afterwards in- 
volved in a war of unparalleled violence and 
fury. It was a war of opinions; in which 
France assumed the attitude of champion for 
freedom, and Britain that of social order 
throughout the civilized world. While under 
these pretences, all sense of justice was ban- 
ished from the councils and conduct of both; 
and both gave loose to the frenzy of boundless 
ambition, rapacity and national hatred and re- 
venge. The foundations of the great deep 
were broken up. The two elementary princi 



the fountains that spouted from her scafl'olds ; 
when the goddess of liberty, in her solemn 
processions, was a prostitute; when open athe- 
ism was avowed and argued in her hall of 
legislation, and the existence of an Omnipotent 
God was among the Decrees of her National 
Convention, then horror and disgust took the 
place of admiration and hope in the minds of 
the American Federalists. Then France be- 
came to them an object of terror and dismay, 
and Britain, as her great and steadfast antago- 
nist, the solitary anchor of their hope — the 
venerated bulwark of their religion. 

At the threshold of the war, Washington, 
not without a sharp and portentous struggle in 
his cabinet, folloveed by sympathetic and con- 
vulsive throes, throughout the Union, issued a 
I Proclamation of Neutrality. Neutrality was 
the policy of his administration, but neutrality 
was not in the heart of any portion of the Ame- 
rican people. They had taken their sides, and 
the Republicans and the Federalists had now 
become, each at least in the view of the other, 
a French and a British faction. 



with each other, and not yet, not at this hour 
is that warfare accomplished. Freedom and 
order were also the elementary principles of 
the two parlies in the American Union, and as 



pies of human society were arrayed in conflict'^ Nor was the neutrality of Washington more 



respected by the combatants in Europe, than it 
was congenial to the feelings of his country- 
men. Thfi cham pion oi free 'hnn and the cham- 
pion of prefer were alike regardless of the rights 



they respectively predominated, each party | of others^ They trampled upon all neutrality 
sympathized with one or the other of the great j from the outset. The press-gang, the rule of 
European combatants. And thus the party j war of 175G, and the order in council, combined 
movements in our own country became com-' to sweep all neutral commerce from the ocean, 
plicated with the sweeping hurricane of Euro- j The requisition, the embargo, and the maximum 
pean politics and wars. The division was left scarcely a tatter of unplundered neutral 
deeply sealed in the cabinet of Washington.— property in France. Britain, without a blush. 
It separated his two principal advisers, and he interdicted all neutral commerce with her ene- 
endeavored without success, to hold an even my. France, under the dove-like banners of 
balance between Ihem. It pervaded the coun- fraternity, sent an Envoy to Washington, 
cils of the Union, the two Houses of Congress, with the fraternal kiss upon his lips, and the 
the Legislatures of the Slates, and the people 1 piratical commission in his sleeve ; with the 



JAMES MONROE 



89 



pectoral of righteousness on his breast, and 
the trumpet of sedition in his mouth. Within 
one year from the breaking out of hostilities 
between Britain and France, the outrages of 
both parties upon the peaceful citizens of this 
Union, were such as would have amply justifi- 
ed war against either, and left to the govern- 
ment of Washington no alternative, but that or 
, reparation. At the commencement of the war, 
the United States were represented in France 
and England by two of their most distinguish- 



chosen, and the members of the Senate of that 
party were by him informally consulted to desig- 
nate who of their number would, by receiving 
the appointment, secure for it their most cor- 
dial satisfaction. Their first indication was 
of another person. Him, Washington, from 
a distrust of individual character, declined to 
appoint. But he nominated Mr. Monroe, and 
the concurrence of the Senate in his appoint- 
ment was unanimous. This incident, hitherto 
unknown to the public, has been followed by 



ed citizens, both, though in different shades, of many consequences, some of them perhaps 
the Federal school ; by Thomas Pinckney at j little suspected, in our history. The discrimi- 
London, and by Governeur Morris in France. 
The remonstrances of Mr. Pinckney against 
the frantic and reckless injustice of the British 
government, were faithful, earnest and indefa- 
tigable ; but they were totally disregarded. Mr. 
Morris had given irreraissiole offence to all the 
revolutionary parties in France, and his recall 
had been formally demanded. From a variety 
of causes, the popular resentments in Ameri- 
ca ran with a much stronger current against 
Britain than against France, and movements 
tending directly to war, were in quick succes- 
sion following each other in Congress. Wash- 
ington arrested them by the institution of a 



nation of character in the judgment of the first 
President of the United States, is alike credita- 
ble to him and Mr. Monroe. It was not with- 
out hesitation that he availed himself of the 
preference in his favor, nor without the entire 
approbation of the party with whom he had 
acted, including even the individual who had 
been rejected by the prophetic prepossession of 
Washington. 

*%The cotemporaneous missions of Mr. Jay to 
Great Britain, and of Mr. Monroe to France, 
are among the most memorable events in the 
history of this Union. There are in the annals 
of all nations occasions, when wisdom and 



special mission to Great Britain. To give it ! patriotism, and the brightest candor and the 



at once a conciliatory character, and to impress 
upon the British government a due sense of its 
importance, the person selected for this mission 
was John Jay, then Chief Justice of the Uni- 
ted States. 

James Monroe was shortly afterwards ap- 
pointed Minister Plenipotentiary to the Repub- 
lic of France. In the selection of him, the 
same principle of conciliation to the govern- 
ment near which he was accredited, had been 
observed. But Washington was actuated also 
by a further motive of holding the balance be- 
tween the parties at home by this appointment 



profoundest sagacity, are alike unavailing for 
success. There are sometimes elements of 
discord, in the social relations of men, which 
no human virtue or skill can reconcile. Mr. 
Jay and Mr. Monroe, each within his own 
sphere of action, executed with equal faithful- 
ness, perhaps with equal ability, the trust com- 
mitted to him, in the spirit of his appointment 
and of his instructions. But neutrality was 
the duty and inclination of the American ad- 
ministration, and neutrality was what neither 
of the great European combatants might en- 
dure. In the long history of national animo- 



Mr. Jay was of the Federal party, with a bias ! sities and hatreds between the French and 
of inclination favorable to Britain ; Mr. Mon- I British nations, there never was a period when 
roe, of the party which then began to call i they were tinged with deeper infusions of the 
itself the Republican party, inclining to favor ' wormwood and the gall, than at that precise 
the cause of Republican France. This parly ' point of time. 

was then in ardent opposition to the general Each of the parties believed herself con- 
course of Washington's administration— and tending for her national existence; each pro- 
that of Mr. Monroe in the Senate had not been claimed, perhaps believed, herself the last and 
inactive. To conciliate that party too, was an only barrier, Britain against the subversion of 



object of Washington's most earnest solicitude. 
From among them he determined that the suc- 
cessor of Mr. Morris, in France, should be 
8* 



social order, France against the subversion of 
freedom throughout the world. 
Mr. Jay, in the fulfilment of his commission, 



90 



JAMES MONROE. 



concluded a Treaty with Great Britain, which i no sooner informed that Mr. Jay had signed a 
established, on immovable foundations, the. Treaty wiih Lord Grenville, than they began 
neutrality proclaimed by Washington; it re- 1 to press Mr. Monroe with importunities to be 
served the faithful performance of all the pre- informed, even before it had been submitted to 
vious engagements of the United States with the American Government, of all its contents. | 
France; some of which were, in their opera- 1 There is, perhaps, no position more awkward 
tion at that time, not consonant with entire and distressing, than that of being compelled 
neutrality: but, in return for great concessions to reject an unreasonable request from those 
on the British side, it yielded some points, also, whose friendship it is important to retain; for , 
which bore as little the aspect of neutrality i unreasonable requests are precisely those which 
in their operation upon France. Mr. Monroe, will be urged with the greatest pertinacity. To 
himself, favored the cause of France. Uoth ; enable Mr. Monroe to decline indulging the 
Houses of Congress had passed Resolutions, jCommittee with a copy of the Treaty, before 
scarcely consistent, at least, with impartiality, *it was ratified, he was under the necessity of 
and Washington, under advice, perhaps over- • declining to receive a confidential communica- 
swayed by the current of popular feeling, after- , tion of its contents from Mr. Jay. The diffi- 
vvards answered an address of the Minister of i culties of his situation became much greater 
France, in words of like sympathy with her, after the Treaty had been ratified, and was 
cause. Arriving in France, at the precise mo-, made public. The people of the United States 
ment when the excesses of the revolutionary , were so equally divided, with regard to the 
parties were on the turning spring tide of, merits of the Treaty, that it became the princi- 
their highest flood, Mr. Monroe was received, pal object of contention between the parties, 
with splendid formality, in the bosom of ttj(^ and they were bitterly exasperated against each 
National Convention, when not another civi- other. The French Government, which, during 
lized nation upon earth, had a recognized repre- the progress of these events, had passed from 
seniative in France. He there declared, in ; a frantic Committee of Public Safety, to a pro- 
perfect consistency with his instructions, the fligate Executive Directory, took advantage 



fraternal friendship of his country and her 
government, for the French people, and their 



of these dissensions in the American Union. 
They suspended the operation of the Treaties 



devoted attachment to her cause, as the cause; existing between the United States and France; 
of freedom. The President of the Convention ^ they issued orders for capturing all American 
answered him in language of equal kindness, vessels, bound to British ports, or having pro- 
and cordiality ; though even then so little of real perty of their enemies on board; their diplo- 
benevolence towards the United States, was : matic correspondence exhibited a series of 
there in the Committee of Public Safety, then, measures, alike injurious and insulting to the 
the executive power of France, that it was to, American Government; and they recalled their 
cut short their protracted deliberations, whether Minister from the United States, without ap- 
Mr. Monroe should be received at all, that he pointing a successor. It was, perhaps, rather 
had addressed himself, in the face of the world, i the misfortune of all, than the fault of anyone, 
for an answer to that inquiry to the National that the views of Mr. Monroe, with regard to 
Convention itself. Strong expressions of kind- the policy of the American Administration, did 
ness are the ordinary common-places of the not accord with those of President Washing- 
diplomatic intercourse between nations: and, ton. He thought that France had just cause 
like the custumary civilities of epistolary cor- , of complaint; and, called to the painful and 
respondence between individuals, they are i invidious task of defending and justifying that 
never understood according to the full Import i which he personally disapproved, although he 
of their meaning ; but extreme jealousy and , never, for a moment, forgot the duties of his 
suspicion at that time pervaded all the public i station, it was, perhaps, not possible that he 
councils of France. should perform them entirely to the satisfaction 



She professed to be willing that the United 
States should preserve their neutrality, but she 
neither resjiected it herself nor acquiesced in 



of his Government. He was recalled, towards 
the close of Washington's administration, and 
Charles Cotesworth Pinckney was appointed 



the measures which it dictated. They were in his place. 



JAMES MONROE. 



91 



To the history of our subsequent controver- 
sies with France, until the Peace of Amiens, 
it will not be necessary for me to advert. Up- 
on Mr. Monroe's return to the United States, 
the administration had passed from the hands 
of President Washington, into those of his 
successor. In vindication of his own charac- 
ter, Mr. Monroe felt himself obliged to go 
before the tribunal of the public, and published 
his " View of the conduct of the Executive in 
the Foreign affairs of the United States, con- 
nected with the mission to the French Repub- 
lic, during the years 1794, '95 and ^96. 

Upon the propriety of this step, as well as 
with regard to the execution of the work, opi- 
nions were, at tlie time, and have continued, 
various. The policy of Washington, in that 
portentous crisis in human affairs, is, in the 
main, now placed beyond the reach of criti- 
cism. It is sanctioned by the nearly unanimous 
voice of posterity. It will abide, in unfading 
lustre, the test of after ages. Nor will the 
well-earned fame of Mr. Monroe, for distin- 
guished ability, or pure integrity, suffer from 
the part which he acted in these transactions. 
In the fervor of political contentions, personal 
animosities, belong more to the infirmities of 
man's nature than to individual wrong, and 
they are unhappily sharpened in proportion to 
the sincerity with which conflicting opinions 
are avowed. It is the property of wise and 
honorable minds, to lay aside these resent- 
ments, and the prejudices flowing from them, 
when the conflicts, which gave rise to them, 
have passed away. Thus it was that the great 
orator, statesman, and moralist, of antiquity, 
when reproached for reconciliation with a bit- 
ter antagonist, declared that he wished his 
enmities to be transient, and his friendships 
immortal. Thus it was, that the congenial 
mind of James Monroe, at the zenith of his 
public honors, and in the retirement of his 
latest days, cast off, like the suppuration of a 
wound, all the feelings of unkindness, and all 
the severities of judgment, which might have 
intruded upon his better nature, in the ardor of 
civil dissension. In veneration for the charac- 
ter of Washington, he harmonized with the 
now unanimous voice of his country ; and he 
has left recorded, with his own hand, a warm 
and unqualified testimonial to the pure patriot- 
ism, the pre-eminent ability and the spotless 
integrity of John Jay. 



That neither the recall of Mr. Monroe, t'rom 
his mission to France, nor the publication of 
bis volume, had any effect to weaken the con- 
fidence reposed in him by his fellow citizens, 
was manifested by his immediate election to 
the Legislature, and soon afterwards to the 
office of Governor of Virginia, in which he 
served for the term, limited by the Constitu- 
tion, of three years. Jn the mean time, the 
Directory of France, with its Council of Five 
Hundred, and its Council of Elders, had been 
made to vanish from the scene, by the magic 
talisman of a soldier's sword. The Govern- 
ment of France, in point of form, was admin- 
istered by a Triad of Consuls: in point of fact, 
by a successful warrior, then Consul for ten 
years — soon to be Consul for life: hereditary 
Emperor and King of Italy; with a forehead, 
burning for a diadem; a soul, inflated by victo- 
ry ; and an imagination, fired with visions of 
crowns and sceptres, in prospect before him. — 
He had extorted, from the prostrate imbecility 
of Spain, the province of Louisiana, and com- 
pelled her, before the delivery of the territory 
to him, to revoke the solemnly stipulated pri- 
vilege, to the citizens of the United States, of 
a deposit at New Orleans. A military colony 
was to be settled in Louisiana, and the mate- 
rials, fur an early rupture with the United 
States, were industriously collected. The 
triumph of the Republican party, here, had 
been marked by the election of Thomas Jeffer- 
son to the Presidency : just before which, our 
previous controversies with France had been 
adjusted by a Treaty of Amity and Commerce, 
and shortly after which, a suspension of arras, 
between France and Britain, had been conclud- 
ed, under the fallacious name of a Peace at 
Amiens. The restless spirit of Napoleon, in- 
flamed, at the age of most active energy in 
human life, by the gain of fifty battles, dazzling 
with a splendor, then unrivalled but by the 
renown of Ccesar, breathing, for a moment, in 
the midway path of his career, the conqueror 
of Egypt, the victor of Lodi, and of Marengo, 
the trampler upon the neck of his country, her 
people, her legislators, and her constitution, 
was about to bring his veteran legions, in 
formidable proximity, to this Union. The 
transfer of Louisiana to France, the projected 
^military colony, and the occlusion, at that pre- 
cise moment, of the port of New Orleans, 
opeiated like an electric shock, in thiscountiy. 



92 



JAMES MOKROE. 



The pulse of the West beat, instantaneously, for 
war: and the antagonists of Mr. Jefferson, in 
Congress, sounded the trumpet of vindication 
to the rights of the nation ; and, as they per- 
haps flattered themselves, of downfall to his 
administration. In this crisis, Mr. Jefferson, 
following the example of his first predecessor, 
on a similar occasion, instituted a special and 
extraordinary mission to France; for which, in 
the name of his country, and of the higiiest of 



ovet-Sluys to embark for Louisianaj received 
another destination. The continent of America, 
was relieved from the imminent prospect of a 
conflict with the modern Alexander, and Mr. 
MoNROK had scarcely reached Paris, when he 
and his colleague were informed that the 
French Government had resolved, for an ade- 
quate compensation in money, to cede to the 
United States the whole of Louisiana. The 
acquisition, and the sum demanded for it. 



human duties, he commanded, rather than in- transcended the powers of the American Plenl- 



vited, the services and self devotion of Mr. 
Monroe. Nor did he hesitate to accept the 
perilous, and, at that time, most unpromising 
charge. He was joined, in the Commission 
Extraordinary, with Robert R. Livingston, 
then resident Minister Plenipotentiary, from 
the United States, in France, well known as 
one of the most eminent leaders of our Revo- 
lution. Mr. Monroe's appointment was made 



potentiaries, and the amount of the funds a: 
their disposal ; but they hesitated not to accept 
the offer. The negotiation was concluded in a 
fortnight. The ratifications of the treaty, with 
those of a convention appropriating part of the 
funds created by it to the adjustment of certain 
claims of citizens of the United States upon 
France, were within six months exchanged at 
Washington, and the majestic valley of the 



on the eleventh of January, 1803; and, as , Mississippi, and the Rocky Mountains, and the 
Louisiana was still in the possession of Spain, shores of the Pacific Ocean became integral 



he was appointed also, jointly with Charles 



parts of the North American Union. 



Pinckney, then Minister Plenipoteniiary of ^ From France, immediately after the conclu- 
the United States at Madrid, to an Extraordi- | sion of the treaties, Mr. Monroe proceeded to 
nary Mission to negotiate, if necessary, con- 1 England, where he was commissioned as the 
cerning the same interest there. The intended successor of Rufus King in the character of 



object of these negotiations was to acquire, by 
purchase, the island of New Orleans, and the 
Spanish territory, east of the Mississippi. Mr. 
Livingston had, many months before, presented 
to the French Government a very able memo- 
rial, showing, by conclusive arguments, that 
the cession of the Province to the United 
States, would be a measure of wise and sound 
policy, conducive not less to the true nterests 
of France than to those of the Federal Union. 
At that time, however, the memoir was too 
widely variant from the wild and gigantic pro- 
jects of Napoleon. 

How often are we called, in this world of 
■vicissitudes, to testify that 

" There's a Divinity, who shapes our ends, 
Rough hew them how we will. " 

When Mr. Monroe arrived in France, all 



Minister Plenipotentiary of the United States. 
Mr. King was, at his own request, returning 
to his own country, after a mission of seven 
years, in which he had enjoyed the rare advan- 
tage of giving satisfaction alike to his own 
government, and to that to which he was ac- 
credited. Mr. Monroe carried with him the 
same dispositions, and had the temper of the 
British eovernment continued to be marked 
with the same good humor and moderation 
which had prevailed during the mission of Mr. 
Kinor, that of Mr. Monroe would have been 
equally successful. But with the renewal of 
the war revived the injustice of belligerent 
pretensions, followed by the violence of belli- 
gerent outrages upon neutrality. After the 
conclusion of the treaty with Mr. Jay, and 
especially towards the close of the preceding 
war, the British government had gradually 
was changed in the Councils of the Tuileries. ! abstained from the exercise of those outrages 
The volcanic crater was re-blazing to the skies, which had brought them to the verge of a war 
The war between France and Biitain was re- with the United States, and at the issue of a 
kindling, and the article of most immediate i correspondence with Mr. King, had disclaimed 
urgency to the necessities of the first consulAhe right of interference with the trade between 
was money. The military colony of twenty ! neutral ports and the colonies of her enemies, 
thousand veterans already assembled [at Hel- ' Just before the departure of Mr. King, a con- 



JAMES MONROE. 



93 



vention had been proposed by him in which 
Britain abandoned the pretension of right to 
impress seamen, which failed only by a cap- 
tious exception for the narrow seas, suggested 
by a naval officer, then at the head of the ad- 
miralty. But after the war recommenced, the 
odious pretensions and oppressive practices of 
unlicensed rapine returned in its train. In the 
midst of his discussions with the British gov- 
ernment on these topics, Mr. Monroe was 
called away to the discharge of his extraordi- 
nary mission to Spain. 

In the retrocession of Louisiana, by France 
to Spain, no limits of the province had been 
defined. It was retroceded with a reference to 
its original boundaries as possessed by France, 
but those boundaries had been a subject of al- 
tercation between France and Spain, from the 
time when Louis the 14th had made a grant of 
Louisiana to Crozat. Napoleon took this re- 
trocession of the province, well aware of the 
gordian knot with which it was bound, and 
fully determined to sever it with his accus- 
tomed solvent the sword. His own cession of 
the province to the United States, however, 
relieved him from the necessity of resorting to 
this expedient, and proportionably contracted 
in his mind the dimensions of the province. — 
He ceded Louisiana to the United States with- 
out waiting for the delivery of possession to 
himself, and used with regard to the boundary 
in his grant, the very words of the conveyance 
to him by Spain. The Spanish Government 
solemnly protested against the cession ot Lou- 
isiana to the United States, alleging that in 
the very treaty by which France had reacquired 
the province, she had stipulated never to cede 
it away from herself. Soon admonished, how- 
ever, of her own helpless condition, and en- 
couraged to transfer her objections from the 
cession to the boundary, she withdrew her 
protest against the whole transaction, and took 
ground, upon the disputed extent of the pro- 
vince. The original claim of France had been 
from the Perdido East to the Rio Bravo West 
of the Mississippi. Mobile had been originally 
a French settlement, and all West Florida, 
was as distinctly within the claim of France, 
as the mouth of the Mississippi first discovered 
by La Salle. Such was the understanding of 
the American Plenipotentiaries, and of Con- 
gress, who accordingly authorized President 
Jefferson to establish a collection district on 



the shores, waters and inlets of the bay and 
river Mobile, and of rivers both East and West 
of the same. But Spain on her part reduced^ 
the province of Louisiana to little more than 
the island of New Orleans. She assumed an 
attitude menacing immediate war; refused to 
ratify a convention made under the eye of her 
own Government at Madrid, for indemnifying 
citizens of the United States, plundered under 
her authority during the preceding war. Ha- 
rassed and ransomed the citizens of the Union 
and their property on the waters of Mobile; 
and marched military forces to the borders of 
the Sabine, where they were met by troops of 
the United States, with whom a conflict was 
spared only by a temporary military convention 
between the respective commanders. It was 
at this emergency that Mr. Monroe proceeded 
from London to Madrid to negotiate together 
with Mr. Pinckney, upon this boundary, and 
for the purchase of the remnant of Spain's title 
to the territory of Florida. He passed through 
Paris on his way, precisely at the time to 
witness the venerable Pontiff of the Roman 
Church invest the brows of Napoleon with the 
hereditary imperial Crown of France, in the 
Cathedral of Notre Dame. While in Paris, 
Mr. Monroe addressed to the then Minister of 
Foreign Affairs, Talleyrand, a letter reminding 
him of a promise somewhat indefinite, at the 
time of the cession of Louisiana, that the good 
offices of France, in aid of a negotiation with 
Spain for the acquisition of Florida should be 
yielded : stating that he was on his way to 
Madrid to enter upon that negotiation, and 
claiming the fulfilment of that promise of 
France. He also presented the view taken by 
the government of the United States, that the 
limits of Louisiana as ceded by France to them 
extended from the Perdido to the Rio Bravo. — 
This letter was promptly answered by the 
Minister Talleyrand, with an earnest argument 
in behalf of the Spanish claim of boundary 
Eastward of the Mississippi, but expressing 
no opinion with regard to her pretensions 
Westward of that river. His Imperial Majes- 
ty had discovered, not only that West Florida 
formed no part of the Territory of Louisiana ; 
but that he never had entertained such an idea, 
nor imagined that a retrocession of the province » 
as it had been possessed by France, could in- 
clude the District of Mobile. This argument 
was pressed with so much apparent candor 



94 



J AMES MONROE. 



and sincerity, that it may give interest to the lectual power applied to national claims of 
anecdote which I am about to relate as a com- right, in the land of our fathers and the age 
Nmentary upon it. It happened that a member which has now passed away, 
of tho Senate of the United States was at New In June, 1805, Mr, Monroe returned to his 
Orleans, when the Commissioner of Napoleon post at London, where new and yet more ardu- 
authorized to receive possession of the pro- 1 ous labours awaited him. A new ministry, at 
vince arrived there, and before the cession to the the head of which Mr. Pitt returned to power, 
United States. This Commissioner in conver- had succeeded the mild but feeble administra- 
sation with the American Senator, told him , tion of Mr. Addington, and Lord Mulgrave as 
that the military colony from France might be i Minister for Foreign Affairs, had taken the 
soon expected. That there was perhaps some ' place of the Earl of Harrowby. The war be- 
dilTerence of opinion between tho French and tween French and British ambition was spread- 
Spanish governments as to the boundary ; but ing over Europe, and Napoleon, by threats and 
that when the colony arrived, his orders were preparations, and demonstrations of a purposed 
quietly to take possession to the Perdido and invasion of Great Britain, had aroused the 
leave the diversities of opinion to be afterwards spirit of that island to the highest pitch of ex- 
discussod in the Cabinet, This anecdote was asperation. Conscious of their inability tc 
related on the floor of the Senate of the United contend with him upon the continent of Eu- 
States, by the member of that body, who had \ rope, confident in their unquestionable but not 
been a party to the conversation. | then unquestioned supremacy over him upon 

But with this forgetful change of opinion in the ocean, the British government saw with an 
the new crowned head of the Imperial Republic, evil eye, the advantages which the neutral na- 
thero was little prospect cf success lor the mis- tions were deriving t'roro their commercial in- 
sion of Mr. Monroe at Madrid ; to which place tercourse with France and her allies. Little 
he proceeded. There in the space of five observant of any principle but that of her owe 
months, together with his colleague Charles interest, British policy then conceived the pro- 
Pinckney, he unfolded the principles, and dis- ject of substituting a forced commerce between 
cussed the justice of his country's claims, in her own subjects and their enemies, by annihi- 
correspondence and conferences with the Prince lating the same commerce enjoyed by her ene- 
of the Peace, and Don Pedro Cevallos with ' mies through the privileged medium of the 
great ability, but without immediate effect, neutral flag. In her purposes of manifesting 
The questions which Napoleon would have tor her own benefit the superiority of her power 
settled by the march of a detachment from his upon the seas, British policy, has, as her occa- 
military colony, were to abide their issue by sions serve, a choice of expedients. In the 
the more lingering, and more deliberate march present instance, for the space of two full years, 
of time. The slate papers which passed at she had sufi"ored neutral navigation to enjoy the 
that stage of the great controversy with Spain, benefit of principles in the law of nations, for- 
remained many years buried in the archives of merly recognized by herself, in the correspond- 
the governments respectively parties to it. ence between Mr. King and Lord Hawkesbury, 
They have since been published at Washing-' shortly before the close of the preceding war. 
ton ; but so little of attraction have diplomatic In the confidence of this recognition, the corn- 
documents of antiquated date, even to the merce and navigation of the United States had 
wakeful lovers of reading, that in this enlight- grown and flourished beyond all former exam- 
ened auditory how many— might I not with pie, and the ocean whitened with their canvass, 
more propriety inquire how few there are, by Suddenly, as if by a concerted signal througl.- 
whom they have ever been perused? It is out the world of waters which encompass the 
nevertheless du9 to the memory of Mr. Monroe globe, our hardy and peaceful, though intrepid 
and of his colleague to say that among the mariners, found themselves arrested in their 
creditable state papers of this nation they will career of industry and skill ; seized by the 
>rank in the highest order:— that they deserve British cruizers; their vessels and cargoes 
the close and scrutinizing attention of every conducted into British ports, and by the spoo- 
American statesman, and will remain solid, taneous and sympathetic illumination of British 
however unornamented, monuments of Intel- 1 Courts of Vice Admiralty, adjudicated to the 



JAMES MONROE. 



95 



captors, because they were engaged in a trade 1 and released the vessels already captured, upon 
with ihe enemies of Britain, to which they had [ which the sentence of the Admiralty had not 
not usually been admitted in time of peace, been passed, but he demurred to the claim of 
^Mr. Monroe had scarcely reached London, indemnity for adjudications already consum- 
when he received a report from the Consul of mated. Of the excitement and agitation, raised 
the United States at that place, announcing that in our country by this inroad upon the laws of 
about twenty of their vessels, had, within a nations and upon neutral commerce, an adequate 
few weeks, been brought into the British ports idea can now scarcely be conceived. The 
on the Channel, and that by the condemnation I complaints, the remonstrances, the appeals for 
of more than one of them, the Admiralty ' protection to Congress, from the plundered 



Court had settled the principle. 



merchants, rung throughout the Union. Afire 



And thus was revived the stubborn contest ' spreading from Portland to New Orleans, 
between neutral rights and belligerent preten- would have scarcely been more destructive. 
sions, which had sown, for so many years. Memorial upon memorial, from all the cities of 
thickets of thorns in the path of the preceding the land, loaded the tables of the Legislative 
administrations; which Washington had with Halls, with the cry of distress and the call 
infinite dillicuiiy avoided, and which his sue- upon the national arm for defence, restitution 
cessor had scarcely been fortunate enough to and indemnity. Mr. Jefferson instituied atrain 
avoid. And from that day to the peace of a special and extraordinary mission to London, 
Ghent, the biography of .Tames Monroe is the in which William Pinckney, perhaps the most 
history of that stiuggle, and in a great degree eloquent of our citizens then living, was unitedC_- 
the history of this nation — an eventful period with Mr. Monroe. Had Mr. Fox lived, their 
in the annals of mankind ; a deeply momentous negotiation might have been ultimately sue- 
crisis in the atfairs of our Union. A rapid cessful. While he lived, the cruizers upon the 
sketch of the agency of Mr. Monroe in several seas, and the Admiralty Courts upon the shores, 
successive and important stations, through this suspended their concert of depredation upon 
series of vicissitudes, is all that the occasion the American commerce, and a treaty was con- 
will permit, and more, I fear, than the time eluded between the Ministers of our country, 
accorded by the indulgence of my auditory and Plenipotentiaries selected by Mr. Fox, 
will allow. The controversy was opened by a , which, with subsequent modifications, just and 
note of mild, but indignant remonstrance from reasonable, suggested on our part, miuju have 
Mr. Monroe to the Earl of Mulgrave, answered j restored peace and harmony, so far as it can 
by that nobleman verbally, with excuse, apolo- subsist, between emulous and rival nations, 
gy, qualified avowal, equivocation, and a pro- As transmitted to this country, however, the 
mise of written discussion, which never came, treaty was deemed by Mr. Jefferson, not to 
Mr. Pitt died; his ministry was dissolved, and have sufficiently provided against the odious 
he was succeeded as the head of the adminis- impressment of our seamen, and it was clog- 
tration, by the great rival and competitor of his ged with the declaration of the British Pleni- 
fame, Charles Fox. In the mean time the na- potenliaries, delivered after the signature of 
vies of France and Spain had been annihilated the treaty, suspending the obligation upon an 
at Trafalgar, and the imperial crowns of Mus- extraneous and inadmissible condition. Mr. 
covy and of Austria, had cowered under the Jefferson sent back the treaty for revisal, but 
blossoming sceptre of the soldier of fortune at the mature and conciliatory spirit of Fox, was 
Austerlitz. Mr. Fox, liberal in his principles, ^ no longer to be found in the councils of Britain, 
but trammelled by the passions, prejudices. It had been succeeded by the dashing and 
and terrors of his countrymen and bis col- flashy spirit of George Canning. He refused 
leagues, disavowed the new practice of captur- to resume the negotiation. Under the auspices, 
ing neutrals, and the new principles in the [ not of positive orders, but of the well known 

temper of his administration, Berkley commit- 
ted the unparalleled outrage upon the Chesa 



Admiralty Courts which had so simultaneously 
made their appearance : but Mr, Fox issued a 



paper blockade of the whole coast, from the ' peake — disavowed, but never punished. The 
Elbe to Brest. He revoked the orders under came the orders in council of November 1S07; 
which the British cruizers had swept the seas, the proclamation to sanction man-stealing from 



96 



JAMES MONROE 



American merchantmen by royal authority ; 
and the mockery of an olive branch in the 
hands of George Rose — our embargo; the 
liberal and healing arrangrement of David Ers- 
kine, disavowed by his government as soon as 
known — but not unpunished ; a minister fresh 
frona Copenhagen, sent to administer the heal- 
ing medicine for Erskine's error, in the shape 
of insolence and defiance. Insult and injury 
followed each other in foul succession, till the 
smiling visage of Peace herself flushed with 
resentment, and the Representatives of the na- 
tion responded to the loud and indignant call of 
their country for war. When the British go- 
vernment refused to resume the negotiation of 
the treaty, the Extraordinary Mission in which 
-Monroe and Pinckney had been joined, was at 
an end. Mr. Monroe, even before the com- 
mencement of that negotiation, had solicited 
and obtained permission to return home— a 
determination, the execution of which had by 



vere illness, to retire. The succeeding summer- 
he was, in the short compass of a week, visited 
by the bereavement of the beloved partner of 
his life, and of another near, affectionate and ^ 
respected relative. Soon after these deep and 
trying afflictions, he removed his residence to 
the city of New-York: where, surrounded by 
filial solicitude and tenderness, the flickering 
lamp of life held its lingering flame, as if to 
await the day of the nation's birth and glory; 
when the soldier of the Revolution, the states- 
man of the Confederacy, the chosen chieftain 
of the constituted nation, sunk into the arms of 
slumber, to awake no more upon earth, and 
yielded his pure and gallant spirit to receive 
the sentence of his Maker. 

Of the twenty years, which intervened be- 
tween his first appointment, as Secretary of 
State, and his decease, to give even a summary, • 
would be to encroach beyond endurance upon 
your time. He came to the Department of 



that special joint mission been postponed. He ' State at a time, when war, between the United 
suffered a further short detention, in conse- ' States and Great Britain, was impending and 
quence of the exploit of Admiral Berkley upon I unavoidable. It was a crisis in the affairs of 
the Chesapeake, and returned to the United this Union full of difficulty and danger. The 
States at the close of the year 1807. After a ! Constitution had never before been subjected to 
short interval passed in the retirement of private the trial of a formidable foreign war ; and one 
life, he was again elected Governor of Virginia, ' of the greatest misfortunes, which attended it, 
and upon the resignation of Robert Smith, was was the want of unanimity in the country for 
in the spring of 1811, appointed by President ' its support. This is not the occasion to revive 
Madison, Secretary of State. This office he the dissensions which then agitated the public 
continued to hold during the remainder of the mind. It may suffice to say that, until the war 



double Presidential term of Mr. Madison, with 
the exception of about six months at the close 



broke out, and during its continuance, the du- 
ties of the offices held by Mr. Monroe, at the 



of the late war with Great Britain, when he head, successively, of the Departments of State 
discharged the then still more arduous duties ! and War, were performed with untiring assi- 
of the War Department. On the return of ' duity, with universally acknowledged ability, 
peace he was restored to the Department of and, with a zeal of patriotism, which counted 
State ; and on the retirement of Mr. Madison health, fortune, and life itself, for nothing, in 
in 1817, he was elected President of the United I the ardor of self-devotion to the cause of his 
States — re-elected without opposition in l821.T)country. It is a tribute of justice to his me. t 
On the third of March, 1825, he retired to his'1 mory to say, that he was invariably the adviser 
residence in Loudon county, Virginia. Subse- of energetic counsels; nor is the conjecture 
quent to that period, he discharged the ordinary ' hazardous, that, had his appointment to the 
judicial functions of a magistrate of the county, j Department of War, preceded, by six months, 
and of curator of the University of Virginia, its actual date, the heaviest disaster of the war. 
In the winter of 1829 and 1830, he served as a heaviest, because its remembrance must be 
member of the Convention called to revise the I coupled with the blush of shame, would have 
Constitution of that Commonwealth ; and took been spared as a blotted page in the annals of 
an active part in their deliberations, over which our Union. It should have been remembered, 
he was unanimously chosen to preside. From that, in war, heedless security, on one side, 
this station, he was, however, compelled, before stimulates desperate expedients on the other; 
the close of the labors of the Convention, by se-} and that the enterprise, surely fatal to the un- 



JAMES MONROE . 



97 



dertaker, when encountered by precaution, be- 'vitiated the channels of intercourse between 
comes successful achievement over the help- INorlh and South: and the Treasury of the 
lessness of neglected preparation. Such had ' Union was replenished only with countless 



been the uniform lesson of experience in former 
ages; such had it, emphatically, been in our 
own Revolutionary War. Strange, indeed. 



millions of silken tatters, and unavailable funds: 
chartered corporations, bankrupt, under the 
gentle name of suspended specie payments, 



would it appear, had it been forgotten by one ; and without a dollar of capital to pay their 
who had so gloriously and so dearly purchased ! debts, sold, at enormous discounts, the very 



it at Trenton. By him it was not forgotten : 
nor had it escaped the calm and deliberate fore- 
sight of the venerable patriot, who then pre- 
sided in the executive chair ; and, at this casual 



evidence of those debts; and passed off, upon 
the Government of their country, at par, their 
rags — purchasable, in open market, at depre- 
ciations of thirty and forty per cent. In the 



and unpremeditated remembrance of him, bear meantime, so degraded was the credit of the 



with me, ray fellow-citizens, if, pausing for a 
moment from the contemplation of the kindred 
virtues of his successor, co-patriot, and friend, 
I indulge the effusion of gratitude, and of public 
veneration, to share in your gladness, that he 
yet lives — lives to impart to you, and to your 
children, the priceless jewel of his instruction : 



nation, and so empty their Treasury, that Mr. 
Monroe, to raise the funds indispensable for 
the defence of New Orleans, could obtain them 
only by pledging his private individual credit, 
as subsidiary to that of the nation. This he 
did without an instant of hesitation, nor was 
he less ready to sacrifice the prospects of laud- 



lives in the hour of darkness, and of danger, able ambition, than the objects of personal in- 
gathering over you, as if from the portals of lerest, to the suffering cause of his country, 
eternity, to enlighten, and to guide. Mr. Monroe was appointed to the Depart- 
Among the severest trials of the war, was the ment of War, towards the close of the cam- 
deficiency of adequate funds to sustain it, and paign of 1814, Among the first of his duties, 
the progressive degradation of the national was that of preparing a general plan of military 



credit. By an unpropitioua combination of 
rival interests, and of political prejudices, the 
first Bank of the United States, at the very 
outset of the war, had been denied the renewal 
of its charier: a heavier blow of illusive and 
contracted policy, could scarcely have befallen 
the Union. The polar-star of public credit, 
and of commercial confidence, was abstracted 
from the firmament, and the needle of the com- 
pass wandered at random to the four quarters 
of the heavens. From the root of the fallen 
trunk, sprang up a thicket of perishable suckers 
— never destined to bear fruit: the offspring of 
SHmmer vegetation, withering at the touch of 



operations for the succeeding year: a task ren- 
dered doubly arduous by the peculiar circum- 
stances of the time. When the war, between 
the United States and Britain, had first kindled 
into flame, Britain, herself, was in the convul- 
sive pangs of a struggle, which had often 
threatened her existence as an independent 
nation — in the twentieth year of a war, waged 
with agonizing exertions, which had strained, 
to the vital point of endurance, all the sinews 
of her power, and absorbed the resources, not 
only of her people then on the theatre of life, 
but of their posterity, for long after-ages. In 
the short interval of two years, from the com- 



the first winter's frost. Yet, upon them was mencement of her war with America, in a sc- 
our country doomed to rely: it was her only ries of those vicissitudes by which a mysteri- 
substitute for the shade and shelter of the pa- : ous Providence rescues its impenetrable decrees 
rent tree. The currency soon fell into frightful I from the presumptuous foresight of man, Bri- 
disorder: Banks, with fictitious capital, swarm- tain had transformed the mightiest monarchies 



ed throughout the land, and spunged the purse 
of the people, often for the use of their own 
money, with more than usurious extortion. 
The solid Banks, even of this metropolis, were 
enabled to maintain their integrity, only by 
contracting their operations to an extent ruin- 
ous to their debtors, and to themselves. A 
balance of trade, operating like universal fraud, 
9 



of Europe, from inveterate enemies into devoted 
allies; and, in the metropolis of her most 
dreaded, and most detested foe, was dictating 
to him terms of humiliation, and lessons of 
political morality. The war had terminated 
in her complete and unqualified triumph; her 
numerous victorious veteran legions, flushed 
with the glory, and sturg with the ambition of 



98 



JAMES MONROE. 



long'Contested, and hard-earned, success, were i drafts upon the whole body of the people. 



turned back upon her hands, without occupa- 
tion for their enterprise, eager for new fields of 
battle, and new rewards of achievement. Ten 
thousand of these selected warriors had already 
been detached from her multitudes in arms, 
commanded by a favorite lieutenant, and rela- 
tive of Wellington, to share the beauty and 
booty of New Orleans, and to acquire, for a 
time which her after-consideration and interest 
were to determine, the mastery of the Missis- 
sippi, bis waters, and his shores. The fate 



This resort, though familiar to the usages of 
our own revolutionary war, was now in the 
clamors of political opposition, assimilated to 
the conscriptions of revolutionary France, and 
of Napoleon. It was obnoxious not only to 
the censure of all those who disapproved the 
war, but to the indolent, the lukewarm and 
the v\ eak. It sent the recruiting officer to ruffle 
the repose of domestic retirement. It autho- 
rized him alike to unfold the gates to the mag- 
nificeni mansion of the wealthy, and to lift the 



of this gallant host, sealed in the decrees of latch of the cottage upon the mountains. It 
heaven, had not then been consummated upon ' sounded the trumpet in the nursery. It rang 
earth. They had not matched their forces with " to arms" in the bed-chamber. Mr. Monroe 



the planters and ploughmen of the western wilds 
— nor learnt the difference between a struggle 
with the servile and mercenary squadrons of a 



was perfectly aware that the recommendation 
to Congress of such a plan, must at least for a 
time deeply affect the personal popularity of 



military conqueror, and a conflict with the free- the proposer. He believed it to be necessary, 

born defenders of their firesides, their children, and indispensable to the triumph of the cause, 

and their wives. Besides that number of ten The time for the people to prepare their minds 

thousand, she had myriads more at her dispo- for fixing the succession to the presidential 

sal — burdens at once upon her gratitude and chair was approaching. Mr. Monroe was al- 



her revenues, and to whom she could furnish 
employment and support, only by transporting 



ready prominent among ihe names upon which 
the public sentiment was now concentrating 



them to trather new laurels, and rise to more itself as a suitable candidate for the trust. It 
exalted renown upon the ruins of our Union. was foreseen by him, that the purpose of de- 
Such was the state of affairs, and such the feating the plan, would connect itself with the 
prospects of the coming year, when immediate- prospects of the ensuing presidential election, 
ly after the successful enterprise of the enemy and that the friends of rival candidates, other- 
upon our metropolis. Congress was convened ' wise devoted to the most energetic prosecution 
upon the smoking ruins of the Capitol, and of the war, might take a direction adverse to 
Mr. Monroe was called, without retiring from the adoption of the plan, not from the intrinsic 
the duties of the Department of State, to as- objections against it, but from the popular dis- 
sume in addition to them, those of presiding favor which it might shed upon its author, 
over the Department of War. Such was the After consultation with some of his confidential 
emergency for which it became his duty to pre- j friends, he resolved in the event of the contin- 
pare and mature plans of military operations. ' uance of the war, to withdraw his name at once 
It is obvious that they must be far beyond the from the complicated conflicts of the canvass, 
range of the ordinary means and resources on by publicly declining to stand a candidate for 
which the government of the Union had been election to the presidency. He had already 
accustomed to rely. They were such as to authorized one or more persons distinguished 
call forth not only the voluntary but the unwil- 1 in the councils of the Union, to announce this 
ling and reluctant hand of the citizen to defend as his intention, which would have been carried 



his country. They summoned the Legislative 
voice of the Union to command the service of 



into execution, but that the motives by which it 
was dictated, were suspended by the conclusion 



) 



her sons. The army, already authorized by of the peace. 

Acts of Congress had risen in numbers to up- That event was the era of a new system of 
wards of sixty thousand men: Mr. Monroe policy, and new divisions of parties in our 
proposed to increase it to one hundred thousand, ' federal Union. It relieved us from many of 
besides auxiliary military force ; and, in addi- the most inflammatory symptoms of our politi- 
cion to all the usual allurements to enlistment, cal disease. It disengaged us from all sympa- 
to levy all deficiencies of effective numbers, by \ thies with foreigners predominating over those 



JAMES MONROE. 



99 



due to our own country. We have now, neither 
in the hearts of personal rivals, nor upon the 
lips of political adversaries, the reproach of 
devotion to a French or a British faction. If 
we rejoice in the triumph of European arms, it 
is in the victories of the cross over the crescent. 
If we gladden with the native countrymen of 
LaFayette or sadden with those of Pulaski and 
Kosciusko, it is the ^ratulation of freedom 
rescued from oppression, and the mourning of 
kindred spirits over the martyrs to their coun- 
try's independence. We have no sympathies 
but with the joys and sorrows of patriotism; 
no attachments but to the cause of liberty and 
of man. 

The first great object of national policy, upon 
the return of peace, was the redemption of the 
Union from fiscal ruin. This was in substance 
accomplished during the remnant of Madison's 
administration, principally by the re-establish- 
ment of a National Bank, with enlarged capa- 
cities and capital : enacted by Congress under 
the recommendation of the Executive, not 
through the Department, but with the concur- 
rence of Mr. Monroe. He upon the cessation 
of the war, had retired from the easy though 
laborious duties of its department, and devoted 
all his faculties to the political intercourse of 
the nation with all others. There was a rem- 
nant of war with the pirates of Algiers, to 
which the gallant and lamented Decatur carried 
peace and freedom from tribute forever, at the 
mouth of the cannon of a single frigate. There 
were grave and momentous negotiations of 
commerce, of fisheries, of boundary, of trade 
with either India, of extinction to the slave 
trade, of South American freedom, of indem- 
nity for enticed and depredated slaves, with 
Great Britain; others on various topics scarcely 
less momentous with France, with Spain, with 
Sweden; and with almost every nation of 
Europe there were claims unadjusted for out- 
rages, and property plundered upon the seas, or, 
with more shameless destitution of any just or 
lawful pretext, in their own ports. There was 
a system of policy to be pursued with regard to 
the embryo states of Southern America, com- 
bining the fulfilment of the duties of neutrality, 
with the rightful furtherance of their emanci- 
pation. 

Turning from the foreign to the domestic 
interests of the united republic, there were 
objects rising to contemplation not less in 



grandeur of design; not less arduous in pre- 
paration for the effective agency of the national 
councils. 

The most painful, perhaps the most profitable 
lesson of the war was the primary duty of the 
nation to place itself in a state of permanent 
preparation for self-defence. This had been 
the doctrine and the creed of Washington, from 
the first organization of the government. It 
had been encountered by opposition so deter- 
mined and persevering, sustained by prejudices 
so akin to reason and by sensibilities so natural 
to freemen, that all the influence of that great 
and good man, aided by the foresight, and 
argument and earnest solicitude of his friends 
to carry it into effect, had proved abortive. An 
extensive and expensive system of fortification 
upon our shores; an imposing and well consti- 
tuted naval establishment upon the seas, had 
been urged in all the ardor and sincerity of 
conviction by the federalists of the Washington 
school, not only without producing upon the 
majority of the nation the same conviction, but 
with the mortification of having their honest 
zeal for the public welfare turned as an engine 
of personal warfare upon themselves. By the 
result of this course of popular feelings, it hap- 
pened that when the war in all its terrors and 
all its dangers came, it was to be managed and 
supported by those who to the last moment 
preceding it, had resisted, if not all, at least all 
burdensome and eflfective preparation for meet- 
ing it. A solemn and awful responsibility was 
it, that they incurred ; and with brave and gal- 
lant bearing did they pass through the ordeal 
which they had defied. Well was it for them 
that a superintending Providence shaped the 
ends, rough-hewn by them : but it produced 
conviction upon their minds ; and it overcame 
the repugnances of the people. A combined 
system of efficient fortification arming the 
shores and encircling the soil of the republic, 
and the gradual establishment of a powerful 
navy, were from the restoration of the peace 
unto his latest hour, among the paramount and 
favorite principles in the political system of 
Mr. Monroe for the government of the Union. 
In these objects, he had the good fortune to be 
supported as well by the opinions of his imme- 
diate predecessor, as by the predominant senti- 
ments of the people. The system in both its 
branches was commenced in the administration 
and with the full concurrence of Mr. Madison. 



V* 



100 



JAMES MONROE. 



It has continued without vital modification to 
this day. May it live ant) flourish through all 
the political conflicts, to which you may be 
destined hereafter, and survive your children's 
children, till augury becomes presumption. 

There was yet another object of great and 
national interest, brought conspicuously into 
view by the war, which pressed its unwieldy 
weight upon the Councils of the Union, from 
the conclusion of the peace. It was the adap- 
tation of the just and impartial action of the 
federal government to the various interests of 
which the Union is composed, with regard to 
revenue, to the payment of the public debt, to 
the industrious pursuits of the farmer and plan- 
ter, of the pioneers of the wilderness, of the 
merchant and navigator, of the manufacturer 
and mechanic, and of the intellectual laborer 
of the mind, including all the learned profes- 
sions and teachers of literature, religion acd 
morals. To all this, a system of legitimate 
and equal governmental action was to be adapt- 
ed; and vast and comprehensive as the bare 
statement of it will present itself to your minds, 
it was rendered still more complicated by the 
necessity of accommodating it to the adverse 
operation upon the same interests of foreign 
and rival legislation through the medium of 
commercial intercourse with our country. At 
the very moment of the peace, the occasion 
was seized of tendering to all the commercial 
nations of Europe a system of intercourse 
founded upon entire reciprocity, and a liberal 
and perfect equalization of impost and tonnage 
duties. This oflTer was very partially accepted, 
but has gradually extended itself to several of 
the European nations, and to all those of South- 
ern America. It is yet incomplete, and its 
destiny hereafter is uncertain. It must perhaps 
ever so remain, as it must forever depend upon 
the enduring and concurrent will of other inde- 
pendent nations. The fair, the free, the frater- 
nal system is that of entire reciprocity ; and as 
the principles flowing from these impulses 
speed their progress in the civilization of man, 
there are grounds for hope that they may in 
process of time, universally prevail. 

But there were other interests of high import 
calling for the legislative action to support 
thera. The war had cut off the supply to a 
great extent of many articles of foreign manu- 
facture, of universal consumption, and neces- 
sary for the enjoyment of the comforts of life. 



This had necessarily introduced large manufac- 
turing establishments, to which the application 
of heavy masses of capital had been made. 
The competition of foreign manufactures of the 
same articles, aided by bounties and other 
encouragements from their own governments, 
would have crushed in their infancy all such 
establishments here, had they not been sup- 
ported by some benefaction from the authority 
of the Union, The adventurer in the Western 
territories, needed the assistance of the national 
arm to his exertions for converting the wilder- 
ness into a garden. Secure from the assaults 
of foreign hostility, the whole people had lei- 
sure to turn their attention to the improvement 
of their own condition. And hence the protec- 
tion of domestic industry and the improvement 
of the internal communications between the 
portions of the Union remote from each other, 
formed an associated system of policy, embrac- 
ed by many of our most distinguished citizens, 
and pursued with sincere and ardent patriotism. 
This system, however, was destined to encoun- 
ter two obstacles of the gravest and most for- 
midable character. The first, a question how 
far the people of the Union had delegated to 
their general government the power of provid- 
ing for their welfare, of promoting their happi- 
ness, of improving ikeir condition 1 The se- 
cond, whether domestic industry and internal 
improvement, limited by localities less exten- 
sive than the whole Union, can be protected and 
promoted without sacrifice of the interests of 
one portion of the Union for the benefit of 
another. The divisions of opinion and the 
collisions of sentiment upon these points have 
been festering since the first advances of the 
system, till they have formed an imposthume 
in the body politic threatening its total dissolu- 
tion. Mr. Monroe's opinion was, that the 
power of establishing a general system of in- 
ternal improvement, had not been delegated to 
Congress; but that the power of levying and 
appropriating money for purposes of national 
importance, military or commercial, or for trans- 
portation of the mail was among their delegated 
trusts. These subjects have been discussed 
under various forms in the deliberations of 
Congress from that period to the present day, 
and they are yet far from being exhausted. An 
appropriation of ten millions of dollars annual- 
ly to the discharge of the principal and interest 
of the public debt, was one of the earliest 



JAMES MONROE 



101 



i 



measures of Mr. Madison's administration 
after the peace, and that purpose steadily pur- 
sued has reduced that national burden to so 
small an amount, that the total extinction of 
the debt can scarcely be protracted beyond a 
term of two or three years from this time. 

On the retirement of Mr. Madison from the 
office of Chief Magistrate in 1817, Mr. Mon- 
roe was elected by a considerable majority of 
he suffrages in the electoral colleges, as his 
successor. This election took place at a period 
of tranquillity in the public mind, of which 
there had been no previous example since the ' 
second election of Washington. To this tran- 
quillity, many concurring causes, such as are 
never likely to meet again, contributed, and , 
among them, of no inferior order, was the ex- ; 
isting state of the foreign, and especially the ' 
European world. It continued through the 
four years of his first Presidential term, at the I 
close of which he was re-elected without a ' 
show of opposition, and by the voice little 
less than unanimous of the whole people. — 
These halcyon days were not destined to en- 
dure. The seeds of new political parties were 
latent in the withering cores of the old. New 
personal rivalries were shooting up from the 
roots of those which had been levelled with 
the earth. New ambitions were kindling from 
beneath the embers that had ceased to smoke. 
No new system of policy had marked the 
administration of Mr. Monroe. The acquisi- 
tion of the Floridas had completed that series 
of negotiations (perhaps it were no exaggera- 
tion to say, of Revolutions) which had com-, 
menced under the confederation with the En- , 
cargardo de Negocios of Spain. Viewed as a i 
whole, throughout its extent, can there be a 
doubt in considering it as the most magnificent i 
supplement to our national Independence pre-, 
sented by our history, and will there arise an 
historian of this Republican empire, who shall 
fail to perceive or hesitate to acknowledge, that 
throughout the long series of these transactions, 
■which more than doubled the territories of the 
North American Confederation, the leading 
mind of that great movement in the annals of 
the world, and thus far in the march of human 
improvement upon earth, was the mind of 
James Monroe T 

In his Inaugural Address, delivered accord- 
ing to a prevailing usage, upon his induction 
to office, he took a general view of the existing 
9* 



condition and general interests of the nation, 
and marked out for himself a path of policy, 
which he faithfully pursued. The first of the 
objects to which he declared that his purposes 
would be directed, was the preparation of the 
country for future defensive war. Fortification 
of the coast and inland frontiers— peace estab- 
lishments of the army and navy, with an im- 
proved system of regulation and discipline for 
the militia, were the means by which this was 
to be effected, and to which his indefatigable 
labors were devoted. The internal improve- 
ment of the country, by roads and canals ; the 
protection and encouragement of domestic man- 
ufactures ; the cultivation of peace and friend- 
ship with the Indian tribes — tendering to them, 
always, the hand of cordiality, and alluring 
them by good faith, kindness, and beneficent 
instruction, to share and to covet the bless- 
ings of civilization; a prudent, judicious, and 
economical, administration of the Treasury ; 
with the profitable, and, at the same time libe- 
ral, management of the public lands, then first 
beginning to disclose their active and apprecia- 
ting value, as national property : all these were 
announced as the interests of the great commu- 
nity, which he surveyed as committed to his 
charge, and to the faithful custody and ad- 
vancement of which, his unremitted exertions 
should be directed: and never was pledge 
with more entire self-devotion redeemed. 

At the first Session of Congress, after his 
election to the Presidency, Mr. Monroe deem- 
ed it his duty, in his annual message to that 
body, to declare to them his opinion, that the 
power to establish a system of Internal Im- 
provement by the construction of roads and 
canals, was not possessed by Congress. But, 
being also of opinion, that no country of such 
vast extent ever offered equal inducements to 
improvements of this kind, and that, never 
were consequences, of such magnitude, in- 
volved in them, he earnestly recommended to 
Congress, to urge upon the States the adoption 
of an amendment which should confer the right 
upon them: and with it, the right of institut- 
ing seminaries of learning, for the all-import- 
ant purpose of diffusing knowledge among 
our fellow citizens throughout the United 
Slates. Of the adoption of such an amend- 
ment, if proposed at that time, he scarcely 
entertained a doubt ; but a majority of both 
Houses of the National Legislature wer& 



102 



JAMES MONROE. 



firmly of opinion tliat this power had already 
been granted : nor has the majority of any 
Congress, since that time, been enabled to con- 
ciliate the conclusions that a power, competent 
to the annexation of Louisiana to this Union, 
was incompetent to the construction of a post- 
road, to the opening of a canal, or to the diffu- 
sion of the light of Heaven upon the mind of 
after-ages, by the institution of seminaries of 
learning. 

Notwithstanding the manifestation of these 
opinions of Mr. Monroe, a subsequent Con- 
gress did pass an act for the maintenance and 
reparation of the Cumberland Road, and for 
the erecting of toll-gates upon it. Firm and 
consistent in the constitutional views which he 
had taken, he deemed it his duty to apply to 
this act his Presidential arresting power ; and, 
in returning the Bill to the House where it 
originated, justified his exercise of preroga- 
tive in an able and elaborate exposition of the 
reasons of his opinions. This work, probably, 
contains whatever of argument the intellectual 
power of man can eviscerate from reason, 
against the exercise, by Congress, of the con- 
tested power. It arrested, to a considerable 
extent, the progress of Tnternal Improvement; 
and, succeeded by similar scruples in the mind 
of one of his successors, has held them in 
abeyance to this day. 

The opinions of James Monroe upon doubt- 
ful or controverted points of Constitutional 
Law, can never cease to be deserving of pro- 
found respect. They were never lightly enter- 
tained. They were always deliberate, always 
disinterested, always sincere. At a subsequent 
period of his administration, as it drew towards 
its close, a modification suggested itself to his 
raind, warranting a compromise between the 
doctrines of those who invoked the beneficent 
action of Congress for national improvement, 
and of those who denied to the Supreme Coun- 
cils of the nation the right of conferring bless- 
ings upon the people. In his annual Message 
to Congress on the 2d of December, 1823, he 
announced his belief that Congress aid possess 
the power of appropriating money for the con- 
struction of a Canal to connect together the 
waters of the Chesapeake and the Ohio (the 
jurisdiction remaining to the States through 
which the Canal would pass.) This of course 
included the concession of the same riorht of 
appropriating money for all other like objects 



of national interest, and it was accompanied 
with a recommendation to Congress to consider 
the expediency of authorizing by an adequate 
appropriation the employment of a suitable 
number of the Officers of the Corps of Engi- 
neers, to examine the unexplored ground during 
the ensuing season, and to report their opinion 
thereon ; extending also their examination to 
the several routes through which the waters of 
the Ohio might be connected, by Canals, with 
those of Lake Erie. Under this recommenda- 
tion, an Act of Congress was passed, and on 
the 30th of April, 1824, received the signature 
of Mr. Monroe, appropriating the sum of thirty 
thousand dollars; authorizing and enabling the 
President of the United States, to cause the 
necessary surveys, plans and estimates to be 
made of the routes of such Roads and Canals 
as he might deem of national importance, in a 
commercial or military point of view, or neces- 
sary for the transportation of the public mail ; 
designating in the case of each Canal, what 
parts might be made capable of sloop naviga- 
tion. The results of the surveys to be laid 
before Congress. And the President was au- 
thorized to employ Civil Engineers, with such 
officers of the several military corps in the 
public service as he might detail for that ser- 
vice, to accomplish the purposes of the Act. 

"Sink down, ye mountains! andyevallies — rise!" 

Rise ! Rise, before your forefathers, here as- 
sembled, ye unborn ages of after-time I Rise! 
and bid the feeble and perishing voice, which 
now addresses them, proclaim your gratitude 
to your and their Creator, for having disposed 
the hearts of that portion of their Represen- 
tatives, who then composed their Supreme 
National Council, to the passage of that Act. 
Exult and shout for joy ! Rejoice ! that, if for 
you, there are neither Rocky Mountains, nor 
Oasis of the Desert, from the rivers of the 
Southern Ocean to the shores of the Atlantic 
wSea : Rejoice! that, if for you, the waters of 
the Columbia mingle in union with the streams 
of the Delaware, the Lakes of the St. Law- 
rence, and the floods of the Mississippi : Re- 
joice ! that, if for you, every valley has been 
exalted, and every mountain and hill has been 
made low, the crooked straight, and the rough 
places plain : Rejoice! that, if for you, Time 
has been divested of his delays, and Space 



i 



s I 



JAMES MONROE. 



103 



disburthened of his obstructions: Rejoice! that, 
if for you, the distant have been drawn near, 
and the repulsive allured to mutual attraction: 
that, if for you, the North American Continent 
swarms with unnumbered multitudes ; of hearts 
beating as if from one bosom; of voices, speak- 
ing but with one tongue; of freemen, consti- 
tuting one confederated and united Republic ; 
of.brethren, never to rise, nation against nation, 
in hostile arms ; of brethren, to fulfil the blessed 
prophecy of ancient times, that war shall be no 
more : to the power of applying the superfluous 
revenues of these, your forefathers, by their 
representatives in the Congress of this Union, 
to the improvement of your condition, you are, 
under God, indebted for the enjoyment of all 
these unspeakable blessings. 

The system of Internal Improvement, then, 
though severely checked, by the opinion that 
the people of this Union have practically de- 
nied to themselves the power of bettering their 
own condition, by restraining their government 
from the exercise of the faculties, by which 
alone it can be made effective, was commenced 
under the administration of James Monroe : 
commenced with his sanction : commenced at 
his earnest recommendation. And if, in after- 
ages, every leaf in the chaplet of his renown, 
shall be examined by the scrutinizing eye of 
grateful memory, to find, in the perennial green 
of all, one of more unfading verdure than the 
rest, that leaf shall unfold itself from the stem 
of Internal Improvement. 

It is not within the scope of your intention, 
nor is it the purpose of this discourse, to re- 
view the numerous and important Acts of Mr. 
Monroe's administration. In the multitude of 
% great nation's public affairs, there is no ofB- 

^ cial act of their Chief Magistrate, however 
momentous, or however minute, but should be 
traceable to a dictate of duty, pointing to the 
welfare of the people. Such was the cardinal 
principle of Mr. Monroe. In his first address, 

j upon his election to the Presidency, he had 
exposed the general principles by which his 
conduct, in the discharge of his great trust, 

', would be regulated. In his second Inaugural 

Address, he succinctly reviewed that portion 

, of the career through which he had passed, 

* fortunately sanctioned by public approbation ; 
and promised perseverance in it, to the close of 
his public service. And, in his last annual 
Message to Congress, on the seventh of De- 



cember, 1824, announcing his retirement from 
public life, after the close of that session of 
the Legislature, he reviewed the whole coarse 
of his administration, comparing it with the 
pledges which he had given at its commence- 
ment, and at its middle term, appealing to the 
judgment and consciousness of those whom he 
addressed, for its unity of principle as one 
consistent whole, not exempt indeed, from the 
errors and infirmities incident to all human 
action, but characteristic of purposes always 
honest and sincere, of intentions always pure, 
of labors outlasting the daily circuit of the sun, 
and outwatching the vigils of the night — and 
what he said not, but a faithful w itness is bound 
to record; of a mind anxious and unwearied 
in the pursuit of truth and right: patient of 
inquiry ; patient of contradiction ; courteous, 
even in the collision of sentiment ; sound in 
its ultimate judgments; and firm in its final 
conclusions. 

Such my fellow citizens was James Monroe. 
Such was the man, who presents the only ex- 
ample of one whose public life commenced 
with the War of Independence, and is identified 
with all the important events of your history 
from that day forth for a full half century. — 
And now, what is the purpose for which we 
have here assembled to do honor to his me- 
mory ■? Is it to scatter perishable flowers upon 
the yet unsodded grave of a public benefactor? 
Is it to mingle tears of sympathy and of con- 
solation, with those of mourning and bereaved 
children T Is it to do honor to ourselves, by 
manifesting a becoming sensibility, at the de- 
parture of one, who by a long career of honor 
and of usefulness has been to us all as a friend 
and brother ■? Or is it not rather to mark the 
memorable incidents of a life signalized by all 
the properties which embody the precepts of 
virtue and the principles of wisdom ? Is it not 
to pause for a moment from the passions of our 
own bosoms, and the agitation of our own in- 
terests, to survey in its whole extent the long 
and little-beaten path of the great and good : 
to fix with intense inspection our own vision, 
and to point the ardent but unsettled gaze of 
our children upon that resplendent row of cres- 
set lamps, fed with the purest vital air, which 
illuminate the path of the hero, the statesman 
and the sage. Have you a son of ardent feel- 
ings and ingenuous mind, docile to instruction, 
and panting for honorable distinction? point 



104 



JAMES MONROE. 



him to the pallid cheek and agonizing form of 
James Monroe, at the opening blossom of life, 
weltering in his blood on the field of Trenton, 
for the cause of his country. Then turn his 
eye to the same form, seven years later, in 
health and vigor, still in the bloom of youth, 
but seated among the Conscript Fathers of the 
land to receive entwined with all its laurels the 
sheathed and triumphant sword of Washington. 
Guide his eye along to the same object, inves- 
tigating by the midnight lamp the laws of 
nature and nations, and unfolding them, at 
once wilh all the convictions of reason and all 
the persuasions of eloquence, to demonstrate the 
rights of his countrymen to the contested Navi- 
gation of the Mississippi, in the Hall of Con- 
gress. Follow him wilh this trace in his hand, 



her dissensions, and conciliating her acerbities 
at home; controlling by a firm though peaceful 
policy the hostile spirit of the European Al- 
liance against Republican Southern America; 
extorting by the mild compulsion of reason, 
the shores of the Pacific from the stipulated 
acknowledgment of Spain ; an d leading bag k 
t he imperial autocrat of the NortL. tn his 
lawful ^nlln( ^ ^ries, from his hastily assertg d 
domini on over the Southern Oge an. Thus 
strengthening and consolidating the federative 
edifice of his country's Union, till he was 
entitled to say like Augustus Caesar of his 
imperial city, that he had found her built of 
brick and left her constructed of marble. 
In concluding this discourse, permit me, fel- 



low citizens, to revert to the sentiment with 
hrough a long series of years, by laborious ' which it commenced ; and if it be true that a 



travels and intricate Negotiations, at Imperial 
Courts, and in the Palaces of Kings, winding 
his way amidst the ferocious and party colored 
devolutions of France, and the life-guard fa- 
vorites and Camarillas of Spain. Then look 
at the map of United North America, as it was 
at the definitive peace of 1783. Compare it 
with the map of that same Empire as it is now ; 
limited by the Sabine and the Pacific Ocean, 
and say, the change, more than of any other 
man, living or dead, was the work of James 
Monroe. See him pass successively from the 
Hall of the Confederation Congress to the 
Legislative Assembly of his native Common- 
wealth; to their Convention which ratified the 
Consiitulion of the North American people ; 
to the Senate of the Union; to the Chair of 
Diplomatic Intercourse with ultra Revolution- 
ary France ; back to the Executive honors of 
his native State; again to Embassies of trans- 
cendant magnitude, to France, to Spain, to 
Britain ; restored once more to retirement and 
his country; elevated again to the highest trust 
of his State ; transferred successively to the 
two pre-eminent Departments of Peace and 
War, in the National Government ; and at the 
most momentous crisis burthened wilh the du- 



superintending Providence adapts the talents 
and energies of men to the trials by which they 
are to be tested, it is fitting for us to be admon- 
ished that the trial may also be adapted to 
the talents destined to meet it. Our country, 
by the bountiful dispensations of gracious 
Heaven, is, and for a series of years has been 
blessed with profound peace; but when the 
first father of our race had exhibited before 
hiro by the Archangel sent to announce his 
doom and to console him in his fal!, the for- 
tunes, and the misfortunes of his descendants, 
he saw that the deepest of their miseries would 
befai them, while favored with all the bless- 
ings of peace, and in the bitterness of his an- 
guish he exclaimed 

" Now I see 
Peace to corrupt, no less than war to waste." 

It is the very fervor of the noon-day sun,' 
in the cloudless atmosphere of a summer sky, 
which breeds 

"the sweeping whirlwind's sway, 
That, hush'd in grim repose, expects his evening 
prey. " 

You have insured the gallant ship, which 



ties of both — and finally raised, first by the ploughs the waves, freighted with your lives 
suffrages of a majority, and at last by the and your children's fortunes, from the fury of 
unanimous call of his countrymen to the Chief i the tempest above, and from the treachery of 
Magistracy of the Union. There behold him the wave beneath. Beware of the danger 
for a term of eight years, sirengthening his against which you can alone insure yourselves 
country for defence by a system of combined —the latent defect of the gallant ship herself, 
fortifications, military and naval, sustaining her j Pass but a few short days, and forty years will 
rights, her dignity and honor abroad ; soothing I have elapsed since the voice of him, who ad- 



JAMES MONROE. 



105 



dresses you, speaking to your fathers, from 
this hallowed spot, gave for you, in the face of 
Heaven, the solemn pledge, that if, in the 
course of your career upon earth, emergencies 
should arise, calling for the exercise of those 
energies and virtues vphich, in times of tran- 
quillity and peace, remain, by the will of Hea- 
ven, dormant in the human bosom, you would 
prove yourselves not unworthy of the sires 
who had toiled and fought and bled, for the 
independence of their country. Nor has that 
pledge been unredeemed. You have main- 
tained, through times of trial and danger, the 
inheritance of freedom, of union, of indepen- 
dence, bequeathed you by your forefathers. It 
remains for you only to transmit the same peer- 
less legacy, unimpaired, to your children of the 
next succeeding age. To this end, let us join 
in humble supplication to the Founder of em- 
pires and the Creator of all worlds, that he 
would continue to your posterity, the smiles 



which his favor has bestowed upon you ; and 
since " it is not in man that walketh to direct 
his steps," that he would enlighten and lead 
the advancing generation in the way they 
should go. That in all the perils and all the 
mischances which may threaten or befall our 
United Kepubllc, in after times, he would raise 
up from among your sons, deliverers to en- 
lighten her Councils, to defend her freedom, 

and if need be to lead her armies to victory 

And should the gloom of the year of Indepen- 
dence ever again overspread the sky, or the 
metropolis of your empire be once more des- 
tined to smart under the scourge of an invader's 
hand, that there never may be found wanting 
among the children of your country a warrior 
to bleed, a statesman to counsel, a chief to 
direct and govern, inspired with all the virtues, 
and endowed with all the faculties, which have 
been so signally displayed in the life of James 
Monroe. 



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POPULAR LECTURES 



ON 



SCIENCE AND ART; 

DELIVERED IN THE 
CHIEF CITIES AND TOWNS IN THE UNITED STATES, 

BY DIONYSIUS LARDNER, 

Doctor of Civil Law, Fellow of the Royal Societies of London and Edinburgh, Member of the Universities of 
Cambridge and Dublin, and formerly Professor of Natural Philosophy and Astronomy 
° in the University of London, &.c. &c. 



After Dr. Lardner had brought to a close his Public Lectures in the United States, he was 
prevailed upon by the Publishers to prepare a complete and authentic edition for publication.— 
The °-eneral interest which, for a period of several years, these beautiful expositions and commen- 
taries on the Natural Sciences had excited, and vchich was so universally felt and acknowledged, 
induced the Publishers to believe that their publication would be most acceptable, as well as per- 
manently beneficial, to the American pubhc. In these published Lectures it will be found that 
the Author has preserved the same simplicity of language, perspicuity of reasoning, and felicity of 
illustration, which rendered tlie oral discourses so universally popular. While the Work was 
passing through the press, and as the different Numbers or Parts were circulated, the Publishers 
received from all sections of the Union the most flattering encomiums of the usefulness of the work 
and of the manner in which it was printed and illustrated. It was gratifying to the Publishers to 
notice the interest taken in the work by Mechanics. In one workshop in New-York, Thirty of 
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ments, the workmen formed clubs and purchased the work at the wholesale or dozen price. The 
number of Lithographic and Wood Engravings, large and small, in the whole series, is 380. 

We do not know that we can give a better idea of the work, to those who have not seen it, than 
by publishing the following summary of the matters treated of in the different Lectures: 

LECTURE I THE PLURALITY OF WORLDS. 

Contemplation of the Firmament— Reflections 
thereby suggested— Limited Powers of the Tele- 
scope—What it can do for us— Its effect on the Ap- 
pearances of the Planets- Are the Planets Inhabit- 
ed ?— Plan of the Solai- System— Unifonn Supply of 
Light and Warmth— Expedient for Securin-g it— 
Ditferent Distances of the Planets do not necessarily 
infer different Temperatures, nor different Degi'ees 
of Light— Admirable Adaptation of the Rotation of 
the Earth to the Organization of its Inhabitants— Mi- 
nor and Major Planets— Short Days on the latter— 
The Seasons— Similar An-angement on the Planets — 
The Atmosphere— Many Uses of the Atmosphere— 
Clouds— Rain, Hail, and Snow — Mountains on the 
Planets— Land and Water— Weights of Bodies on 
the Planets — Appearances of the Sun, (fcc. &c. 

LECTURE II THF, SUN. 

The Most Interesting Object in the Firmament- 
Its Distance — How Measured — Its Magnitude— How 
Ascertained— Its Bulk and Weight— Form— Time of 
Rotation — Spots— Its Physical Constitution- Lumin- 
ous Coating — Temperature — Luminous Matter, &c. 
&c. 

LECTURE III ECLIPSES. 

Lwnar and Solar Eclipses— Causes— Shadow of the 
Earth— And Moon— Magnitude — When they can hap- 
pen—Great Solar EcUpse described by HaUey— Eclip- 
tic Limits, &.C. &.C. 



LECTURE IV THE AURORA EOREALIS. 

Origin of the Name — Produced by Electricity — 
General Phenomena of Auroras — Various Examples 
of this Meteor — Biot's Excursion to the Shetland 
Isles to observe the Aurora — Lottiu's Observations in 



1838-9 — Various Auroras seen by him— Theory of 
Biot — Objections to it — Hypothesis of Faraday — Au- 
roras seen on the Polar Voyage of Captain Franklin, 
&c. &c. 

LECTURE V ELECTRICITY. 

Electric Phenomena observed by the Ancients — 
ThiUes — Gilbert de Magnete — Otto Guencke's Elec- 
tric ^Machine- Hawkesbee's Experiments — Stephen 
Grey's Discoveries — Wheeler and Grey's — Dufaye's 
Discovery — Invention of the Leyden Vial — Singular 
Effects of the first Electric Shocks— Experiments of 
Watson and Bevis — Experiments on Conductors — 
Franklin's Experiments and Letters — His Experi- 
ments on the Leyden Vial — His Discovery of the 
Identity of Lightning and Electricity — Reception of 
his Suggestions by the Royal Society — His Kite Ex- 
periment — His Right to this Discovery denied by 
Arago — His Claim Vindicated — Invention of Conduct- 
ors — Canton's Experiments — Discovery of Induction 
— Inventor of the Condenser — Works of jEpinus — 
Theory of Symmer — Experiments of Coulomb — Bal- 
ance of Torsion — Electricity of the Atmosphere — 
Effects of Flame — Experiments of Volta — Lavoisier 
and Laplace — Analytical Work of Poisson. 

LECTURE VI THE MINOR PLANETS. 

Mercury — Transit ever the Sun — Relative Position 
— Difficulty of Observing it — Venus — Diurnal Morion 
of Venus and Mercury indicated by the Shadows of 
Mountains — Axis of Rotation — Seasons, Climates, 
and Zones — Orbits and Transits of Mercury and Ve- 
nus — Mountains on Mercury and Venus — Influence 
of the Sun at Mercury and Venus — TvriJight on Mer- 
cury and Venus — Riars — Atmosphere of Mars— Phys- 
ical Constitution of Mars — Has Mars a Satellite ! — 
Appearance of the Sun at Meus, &.c. 



DR. LARDNER S LECTURES. 



LECTURE VII WEATHER ALMANACS. 

Merita of Weather Almanacs — Fright Produced by 
Biela's Comet— London Water Panic— London Air 
Panic— London Bread Panic— Rage for Weather Al- 
manacs—Patrick Murphy's Pretensions- Compaii- 
son of the Predictions with the Event— Morrison's 
Weather Almanac— CharlatMism of these Publica- 
tions—Great Frost of 1838 in London— Other Visita- 
tions of Cold. 

LECTURE VIII H alley's comet. 

Predictions of Science— Stnicture of the Solar 
System — Motion of Comets — Intervals of their Ap- 
pearance — Halley's Cometh-Its History— Newton's 
Conjectures — Sagacity of Voltaire— Halley's Re- 
searches — Foretells the Appearance of the Comet — 
Principle of Gravitation applied to its Motion— Anec- 
dotes of Lalande and Madame Lepaute — Minute and 
Circumstantial Prediction of the Reappearance of 
Halley's Comet — Discovery of the Planet Herschel 
anticipated by Clairault— Second Prediction of its 
Return in 1835— Prediction fulfilled— Observations 
on its Appearance in 1835, &c. &c. 

LECTURE IX THE ATMOSPHERE. 

Atmospheric Air is Material— Its Color— Cause of 
the Blue Sky— Cause of the Green Sea — Air has 
Weight — Experimental Proofs — Air has Inertia— Ex- 
amples of its Resistance — It acquires Moving Force- 
Air is Impenetrable — Experimental Proofs — Elastic 
and compressing Forces equal — Limited Hight of the 
Atmosphere, &.c. &c. 

LECTURE X THE NEW planets. 

Indications of a Gap in the Solar System— Bode's 
Analogy — Prediction founded upon it — Piazzi discov- 
ers Ceres— Dr. Olbers discovers Pallas— Harding dis- 
covers Juno— Dr. Olbers discovers Vesta — Indica- 
tions afforded by these Bodies of the Tiuth of Bode's 
Predictions — Fragments of Broken Planet— Others 
probably still Undiscovered — Singularities of their 
Appearance, &c. &c. 

LECTURE XI THE TIDES. 

Correspondence between the Tides and Phases of 
the Moon shown by Kepler— Erroneous popular No- 
tion of the Moon's Influence — Actual Manner in 
which the Moon Operates — Spring Tides— Counter- 
action of the Sun and Moon— Neap Tides— Priming 
and Lagging of the Tides— Effects of Continents and 
Islands^on the Tides— General Progress of the Great 
Tidal Wave— Range of the Tide, &c. &c. 

LECTURE XII LIGHT. 

Stnacture of the Eye— Manner in which Distant 
Objects become Visible— Velocity of Light— Account 
of its Discovery by Roemer — Measurement of the 
Waves of Light by Newton — Color produced by 
Waves of diflerent Magnitudes — Corpuscular The- 
ory— Undulatory Theory— Relations of Light and 
Heat, &c. &c. 

LECTURE XIII THE MAJOR PLANETS. 

Space between Mars and Jupiter— Jupiter's Dis- 
tance and Period— Magnitude and Weight — Velocity 
— Appeai-ance of Disk — Day and Night on Jupiter- 
Absence of Seasons— Telescopic Appearance— His 
Belts— His Satellites— The Variety of his Months- 
Magnificent Appearance of the Moon as seen from 
Jupiter— SATUEN-Diui-nal Rotation — Atmosphere— 
His Rings— Their Dimensions— Appearances and 
Disappearances of the Rings — Satellites — Herschel 
or Uranus — Distance and "Magnitude — Moons — Rea- 
sons why there is no Planet beyond his Orbit. 

LECTURE XIV reflection of light. 

Ray of Light— Pencil of Light— Reflection— Its 
Laws — Image of an Object in a plane Reflector — Re- 
flection of Curved Suifaces — Concave Reflectors — 
Convex Reflectors — Images in spherical Reflectors — 
Illusion of the air-drawn Dagger — Effects of common 
Looking-Glasses Analyzed — A Flattering Glass ex- 
plained—Metallic Specula— Reflection in Liquids — 
Image of the Banks of a Lake or River. 



LECTURE XV prospects of steam 

navigation. 

Retrospect of Atlantic Steamers— Origin of the 
Great Western— Cunard Steamers— Can Steam Pack- 
et-Ships be successful? — Defects of Common Pad- 
dle-Wheels—Defects of the present Steam-Vessels 
as applicable to War— Difficulty of long Ocean- 
Voyages — Ericsson's Propeller — Leper's Propeller — 
Method of raising the Propeller out of the Water 
— Fuel — Form and AiTangcment of the proposed 
Steam Packet-Ships — War Steamers — The Prince- 
ton, &c. &c. 

LECTURE XVI the barometer. 

Maxim of the Ancients — AbhoiTence of a Vacuum 
— Suction — Galileo's Investigations — Torricelli dis- 
covers the Atmospheric Pressure — The Barometer — 
Pascal's Experiment — Requisites for a good Barom- 
eter — Means of securing them — Uses of the Barom- 
eter — Weatner-Glass — Rules in common Use absurd 
— Correct Rules — Measurement of Hights — Effect of 
a Leather Sucker — How Flies adhere to Ceilings, and 
Fishes to Rocks — Breathing — Common Bellows — 
Forge Bellows — Tea-Pot — Kettle — Ink Bottles- 
Pneumatic Trough — Gurgling Noise in decanting 
Wine. 

LECTURE XVII the moon. 

Popular Interest attached to the Moon — Its Dis- 
tance—Rotation — Same Face always toward the 
Eaith — Phases— Changes of Position — Atmosphere — 
Optical Test — Physical Qualities of Moonlight— Is 
Moonlight Wann or Cold ? — Does Water Exist on 
the Moon ? — Does the Moon Influence the Weather? 
— Mode of determining this — Physical Condition of 
the Lunar Surface — Appearance of the Earth as seen 
from the Moon — Prevalence of Mountains upon it 
—Their general Volcanic Character — Telescopic 
Views of the Moon — Condition of a Lunar Crater, 
ifec. <S:c. 

LECTURE XVIII heat. 

Heat as a Branch of Elementary Physics neglect- 
ed — Is a Universal Agent in Nature — In Art — In Sci- 
ence — Astronomy — Chemistry — In every Situation 
of Life — Applications of it in Clothing and artificial 
Warming and Cooling — Lighting— Admits of easy 
Explanation — Thermometer — Melting and Boiling 
Points — Evaporation — Specific Heat — Heat produced 
by Compression — Radiation — Conduction — Incan- 
descence. <fcc. (fcc. 

LECTURE XIX the Atlantic steam 

question. 

The Project proposed in 1835 — Previous Condition 
of Steam Navigation— Practicability of the Atlantic 
Voyage not denied or doubted — Report of the Meet- 
ing of the British Association at Bristol— Extract fi-om 
the London Times — Ocean Voyages for Steamers 
and Sailing Vessels compared— Effect of the West- 
erly Winds in the Atlantic— Cunard Line of Steam- 
ers — The Support received by them from the British 
Post-Oflice — Failure of the Project to Estabhsh New- 
York and Liverpool Steam-Liners — Essay on the 
Question, " Has Atlantic Steam Navigation been Suc- 
cessful ?" &c. &c. 

LECTURE XX galvanism. 

Origin of the Discoverj' — Accidental Effect on 
Pi-ogs — Ignorance of Galvani — His Experiments on 
the Frog — Accidental Discovery of the Effect of Met- 
allic Contact — Animal Electricity— Galvani Opposed 
by Volta — Volta's Theory of Contact Prevails- Fab- 
roni's Experiment — Invention of the Voltaic Pile — 
Napoleon's Invitation to Volta — Anecdote of Napo- 
leon — Decomposition of Water — Cruicksliank's Ex- 
periments — Jjavy commences his Researches — Calo- 
rific Effects of the Pile — Davy's celebrated Bakerian 
Lecture — Prize awarded him by the French Acade- 
my His Discoveries — Decomposition of Potash and 

Soda — New Metals, Potassium and Sodium — Dis- 
covery of Barium — Strontium, Calcium, and Magne- 
sium—Rapid Discoveiy of the other new Metals, 
&c. &c. 



DR. LARDNERS LECTURES, 



LECTURE XXI the moon and the 

WEATHER. 
Ancient Procnostics of Aristotle, Theophrastus, 
Aratus, Theon," Pliny, Virgil— Recent Predictions— 
Theory of Lunar Attraction not in accordance with 
Popular Opinion— Changes of Weather compared 
with Changes of the Moon— Prevalence of Rain com- 
pared with Lunar Phases — Direction of the Wind — 
Erroneous Notions of Cycles of nineteen and nine 
Years— Cycle of four and eight Years mentioned by 
Pliny. 

LECTURE XXII periodic comets. 

Enckfi's Comet— Its Period and Orbit— Motion — 
Newton's Conjectures respecting Comets — Biela's 
Comet — Its Period and Orbit — Lexell's Comet — 
Causes of its Appearance and Disappearance — Whis- 
ton's Comet— His Theory— Did this Comet produce 
the Deluge 1 — Orbit of this Comet, &c. &c. 

LECTURE XXIII radiation or heat. 

Radiation a Property of Heat — Prismatic Spectrum 
— Invisible Rays — Two Hj-potheses — Invisible Rays 
alike in Properties to Luminous Rays — Discoveries 
of Leslie — Difterential Thermometer — Radiation, 
Reflection, and Absorption — Eflect of Screens — Sup- 
posed Rays of Cold — Common Phenomenon Ex- 
plained — Theory of Dew, &c. &c. 

LECTURE XXIV meteoric stones and 

shooting stars. 
Appearances accompanying Meteorites — Theories 
to explain them — Shooting Stars — November and 
August Meteors — Orbits and Distances — Hights. 

LECTURE XXV the earth. 

A difficult Subject of Investigation — Form — How 
proved Globular — Magnitude — Annual Motion — El- 
liptic Form of its Orbit — Proofs of its annual Motion 
from the Theory of Gra%-itation — From the Motion of 
Light — The Earth's diunial Motion — Inequalities of 
Day and Night — Weight of the Earth — Experiments 
— Density — The Seasons — Caloritic Eftect of the Sun's 
Rays — Why the longest is not the hottest Day — Why 
the shortest Day is not the coldest — The hottest Sea- 
son takes place when the Sun is farthest from the 
Earth — Diunial Rotation — Form of the Earth. 

LECTURE XXVI lunar influences. 

The Red Moon — Supposed Eftect of the Moon on 
the Movement of Sap in Plants — Prejudice respect- 
ing the time for felling Timber — Its Prevalence — 
Prejudices respecting its Etiects on Grain — On Wine 
— On the Complexion — On Putrefaction — On Wounds 
— On the Size of Oysters and Shell-Fish — On the Mar- 
row of Animals — On the Weight of the Human Body 
— On the Time of Births — On the Hatching of Eggs — 
On Human Maladies — On Insanity — On Fevers — On 
Epidemics — Case of VaUisnieri — Case of Bacon — On 
Cutaneous Diseases, Convulsions, Paralysis, Epilep- 
sy, &<;. — Obsei-vations of Dr. Olbers. 

LECTURE XXVII physical constitu- 
tion OF COMETS. 

Orbitual Motion of Comets — Number — Light — Ex- 
planation of this — Theory of Ilerschel — Constitution 
of Comets — Nebulosity — Nucleus — Tail — Comets of 
1811, 1680, 1769, 1744, 1843, 1844. 

LECTURE XXVm thunder storms. 

Of common Thunder-Clouds — Character and Elec- 
tric Charge of Clouds — Discharge between the Clouds 
and the Earth — Mutual Attraction or Repulsion of 
Electrized Clouds — Characters of the upper and low- 
er Surface of the Clouds — Negative Testimony re- 
specting Thunder from an isolated Cloud — Cases of 
Lightning from an isolated Cloud — A fresh Case re- 
lated by M. Dupcrrey— O/ Volcanic Thunder-Clouds 
—Lightning from the Ashes, Smoke, and Vapor of 
Volcanoes — Origin — Of tlie Hight of Storm-Clouds 
—Mode of Observation— Ascending Flashes of Light- 
ning — Minor Limits of the Hight of Storm-Clouds — 



Inefficiency of many recorded Obsenrations — Table 
of Observations as collected by Arago — Flash pf 
Lightning from a Cloud upward — Of Lightning — 
Varieties of Lightning — Zigzag Lightning — Forked 
Lightning — Sheet Lightning — Ball Lightning — Ov the 
Speed of Lightning— Theory of Vision illustrated — 
Experiments — Velocity of Lightning — Silent Light- 
ning — Heat Lightning— Thunder Bursts — Of Lvmin- 
oits Clouds— Clouds themselves faintly Luminous — 
Clouds visibly Luminous — Sabine's Observations — 
Of Thunder— Ronmg of Thunder— Duration and In- 
tensity— Violent Thunder from Ball Lightning— Inter- 
val between Lightning and Thunder— A case in which 
they were almost simultaneous — Thunder without 
Lightning — Noise attendant on Earthquakes — Of the 
Attempts to Explain the Plienomena of Thunder and 
Lightning— Identity of Lightning and Electricity — 
Undulatory Hypothesis — Ball Lightning and the In- 
ferences to which it leads — Bituminous Matter ac- 
companying a Case of Lightning Discharge — Expla- 
nations of Silent Lightnings— Observations of Silent 
Lightnings — Arago's Suggestion for Observations — 
Lightning hidden by dense Clouds — Place of the 
Sound of Thunder— Greatest Distance at which 
Thunder is heard — Case of Distance beyond which 
it was Inaudible— Distance at which other Sounds 
have been heard — Effects of Heat, Cold, Wind, <Stc. — 
On the IVansmission of Sound — Thunder heard 
when no Cloud was Visible — Duration of an Echo^ 
Duration of the Roll of Thunder at Sea— Application 
of the Theory to Zigzag Lightning — Means of obtain- 
ing a Limit of the Length of a Flash. 

LECTURE XXIX the latitudes and 

longitudes. 

Definition of the Equator and Poles — Latitude of a 
Place— Parallel of Latitude— Meridian of a Place— Lon- 
gitude of a Place— Standard Meridian — Methods of 
Determining Latitude and Longitude Various — To 
find the Latitude— Methods applicable in Observato- 
ries — At Sea — Hadley's Sextant — To determine the 
Longitude — How to find the Time of Day on Land — 
At Sea — Use of Chronometers — Lunar Method of 
finding the Longitude— Apparatus provided at Green- 
wich for giving the exact 'Hme to Ships leaving the 
Port of London — Method of determining Longitude 
by Moon — Culminating Stars, &c. 

LECTURE XXX theory of colors. 

Refraction of a Ray of Light — By a Prism — Tho 
Prismatic Spectrum— Decomposition of Light— New- 
ton's Discoveries — Colors of the Spectrum— Brew- 
ster's Discovery of three Colors — How three Colors 
can produce the Spectrum — Colora of natural Bodies 
— How they are produced. 

LECTURE XXXI the visible stars. 

What occupies the Space beyond the Limits of the 
Solar System — Wide Vacuity between this System 
and the Stars — The immense Distance of the Stars 
proved by the Earth's annual Motion — Obsert'ations 
made at Greenwich — Bessel's Discovery of the Par- 
allax—Distance of the Stars — Illustrations of the Mag- 
nitude of this Distance— The different Orders and 
Magnitudes of the Stars — How accounted for — Why 
those of the lowest Magnitude are most Numerous — 
The Telescope unable to magnify them — Brightness 
and Magnitude of the Stars in Relation to the Sun- 
Their Stupendous Magnitude — Application of this to 
the Dog-Star, &c. 

LECTURE XXXII water-spouts and 

whirlwinds. 

Character and Effect of Water-Spouts- Difference 
between Water and Land Spouts— Land-Spout at 
Montpellier — Land-Spout at Esclades — Columns of 
Sand on Steppes of South America — Meteors — Land- 
Spout at Ossonval — Conversion of a StoiTn into a 
Land-Spout— Water-Spouts seen by Capt. Beecby — 
Illustration of the Gyratory Motion of Water-Spouta 
— Action of charged Clouds on Light Bodies— Noiso 
attending Water and Land Spouts — Transition from 
direct to Gyratory Motion — Eflect of Induction on 
watery Surfaces — Disappearance of Pools, &.c. 



LECTURE XXXIII matter and its 

PHYSICAL PROPERTIES. 

Unlimited Divisibility— Micrometric Wire— Method 
of making it— Thiclfness of a Soap-Bubbls— Wings of 
Insects— Gilding of Embroidery— Globules of the 
Blood— Animalcules— Their Minute Organization- 
Ultimate Atoms— Crystals— Porosity— Volume— Den- 
sity— Quicksilver passing through Pores of Wood— 
Filtration— Heat— Contraction of Metal used to re- 
store the Perpendicular to Walls of a Building— Im- 
penetrability of Air — Compressibility of it — Elasticity 
of it — Liquids not absolutely Incompressible— Exper- 
iments — Elasticity of Fluids— Aeriform Fluids — Do- 
mestic Fire-Box — Inertia — Matter incapable of spon- 
taneous Change — Impediments to Motion — Motion of 
the Solar System— Spontaneous Motion — Immateri- 
ality of the thinking and willing Principles — Language 
used to express Inertia sometimes faulty — Examples 
of Inertia, &c. &c. 

LECTURE XXXIV et.asticity of air. 

Exhausting Syringe — Impossible to produce a per- 
fect Vacuum— The Air-Pump — Barometer Gauge — 
Siphon Gauge — Pump without Suction-Valve — Blad- 
der burst by Atmospheric Pressure — By Elasticity of 
Air — Dried Fruit intlated — Fixed Air — Water raised 
by Elastic Force — A Pump cannot act in the absence 
of Atmospheric Pressure — Suction ceases when this 
Pressure is removed — Guinea and Feather Experi- 
ment — Cupping — Effervescing Liquors — Sparkling of 
Champagne, iS:c. — Presence of Air necessary for the 
Transmission of Sound — The Condensing Syringe — 
The Condenser, &c. &c. 

LECTURE XXXV effects of light- 
ning. 

Effects of Lightning — The Sulphureous Odordevel- 
oped by Lightning- -Chemical Changes operated by 
Lightning — Nitric Acid formed by the Elecd-ic 
Spark ; also, Ammonia and Nitric Acid produced 
during Thunder Storms — Fusion and Contraction of 
Metals — Observations of the Ancients — Franklin's 
cold Fusion^Masses of Metals melted by Lightning 
— Vilrefactions and Fulgurites — Facts collected by 
M. Arago — Fulgurites — Recent Formation of Fulgu- 
rites observed — Mechanical Effects — Instances of the 
Mechanical Action of Lightning — Action is exerted 
in all Directions — M. Arago's Explanation of the Ef- 
fect as due to Vaporization — Decompositions of the 
Natural Electricities of Bodies — Induction between 
the Clouds and the Earth — Upward Flashes and Me- 
chanical Etiects — Effects of Conducting Bodies on 
Lightning — Conducting Properties of Metallic Bod- 
ies — Lightning passing along Conductors in Prefer- 
ence to Non-Conductors — Protection afforded by 
Conducting Bodies — Lightning selects Conducting 
Bodies from among others — Lightning Conductors 
should descend to a humid Soil — Necessity of Con- 
tinuity in a Conductor — Effects proceeding from the 
Surface of the Earth — Ascent or Ebullition of Water 
— Inundations from Subterranean Sources — Moeaic 
Account of the Deluge — Electrical State of the Atmo- 
sphere Favorable to the Process of Barking Trees — 
Effect of Thunder on fermented Liquors, Sec. — The- 
ory of such Effects — Flame appearing on the Ground 
— Not extinguishable by Water — Supei-posed Clouds 
not necessary to its Appearance — Stationary lumin- 
oti3 Appearance — Lightning rising from the Earth 
like a Rocket — Flames observed on exposed Points 
— Luminous Rain — Luminous Dust 

LECTURE XXXVL... POPULAR fallacies. 

Fallacious Indications of Senses— Errors of the 
Sense of Feeling — Erroneous Impressions of Heat 
and Cold — Explanation of these by the Principle of 
Conduction — Why a Fan is cooling — Feats of the 
Fire-King explained — Horizontal Appearance of the 
Sun and Moon — Deceptive Oval Disk in the Horizon 
— Deceptions of Vision, of Taste, of Smelling. 

LECTURE XXXVIT protection from 

LIGHTNING. 
Danger proportionate to the Magnitude, not to the 
Frequency of the Evil — Ancient Methods of averting 



Lightning — Persons in Bed not Secure, as some 
think — Augustus's Seal-skin Cloak as a Lightning 
Protector — Intiuence of Color on the Electric Fluid — 
Tiberius's Crown of Laurel as a Lightning Protector 
— The Danger of taking Shelter beneath Trees — Fu- 
tility of taking Shelter in Glass Cages — Metal about 
the Person destroyed by Lightning— Metal Append- 
ages to be laid aside — Part of a Room which is most 
Safe — Lightning more likely to discharge among a 
Crowd than on a single Individual — Certain Individ- 
uals are comparative Non-Conductors — Thunder- 
Clouds have been Traversed with Impunity — Thun- 
der-Storms below the Place of Observation — Para- 
TONNEEBES, Or Lightning Conductors — Sparks — 
ly^ghtning Conductors drain off the Electricity of 
Clouds — Frequent Occurrence at Sea — Influence of 
Elevation of a ParatonneiTe — Experimental Illustra- 
tion — Electric Kites — Captive Balloons — Pointed and 
blunt Conductors — Quantity of Lightning drawn 
down by a Conductor— Mr. Harris's Conductors for 
Ships — Lightning dees not always stiike the highest 
Points — Lightning Conductors — Charcoal Beds to re- 
ceive the Base of the Conductor — Conductors of Met- 
allic Wire — Rope — Conductors for Powder Maga- 
zines — Efficacy of Conductors— Artificial Means of 
producing the Electrical Odor — Choraieal Changes — 
Fusion — Fulgurites — Mechanical Fiffects — Effects of 
Conducting Bodies, &c. Sic. 

LECTURE XXXVIII magnetism. 

Magnetic Attraction and Polarity — Meridian, Varia- 
tion — Dip of the Needle — Magnetic Attraction known 
to the Ancients — Invention of the Mariner's Compass 
— Discovery of the Variation — Tables of Variation 
constructed — Robert Norman discovers the Dip- 
Invention of the Dipping Needle — The Variation of 
the Variation discovered — Intiuence of Magnets on 
Soft Iron — Construction of Artiticial Magnets— Mag- 
netism imparted to Iron by the Earth — Laws of Mag- 
netic Attraction discovered by Coulomb — Methods 
of makuig Artiticial Magnets — Influence of Heat on 
Magnetism — Changes of the Variation — Advance- 
ment of Magnetic Geography — Magnetic Equator — 
Magnetic Poles, «fcc. &c. 

LECTURE XXXIX... electro-magnetism. 
Electro-Magnetism veiy recently discovered — Oer- 
sted's Experiments at Copenhagen — The Law ac- 
cording to which the Needle is deflected — The Law 
of Attraction and Repulsion of Electric Currents — 
Supposes Electric Currents circulating round the 
Globe — Arago shows that the Conducting Wire has 
Magnetic Properties — Needles magnetized by the 
Electric CuiTent — Faraday's Researches — Rotation 
imparted to Mercury by means of the Magnet and 
Electric Current — The Multiplier and Galvanometer 
— Researches of M. de la Rive — Magnetizing Power 
of the Current at different Distances — The undulato- 
ry Theory of Electricity similar to that of Light — 
Tkermo-Electricity — Experiments with Antimony and 
Copper — Researches — Oei'sted and Fourier constnict 
a Thei-mo-Electric Pile— Becquerel decomposes Wa- 
ter with such an Instniment, &c. &c. 

LECTURE XL the thermometer. 

Advantases of Mercurial Thermometer — Method 
of constructinjr one — To purify the Mercury — Form- 
ation of the Tube— To All the Tube — Determination 
of the freezing and boiling Points — Modes of Gradu- 
ation — Alcohol Thermometers — Difficulty of fixing 
the boiling Point — Usefulness of the Thermometer — 
History of its Invention — Methods of comparing 
Scales of difterent Thermometers. 

LECTURE XLI atmospheric elec- 
tricity. 

Electricity of the Atmosphere in clear Weather — Con- 
nection between Electricity and McteoroJogy — Appa- 
ratus for obsa-virig the Electricity of the Atmosphere — 
Occagional use of the Galvanometer — The ordinary 
State of tlie Atmosphere — Theory of the Origin of At- 
mospheric Electricity — Probable Influence of Fric- 
tion — Diurnal Variation of the Electricity— Maxima 
and Minima at a given Pai-allel— Schiibler's Ob.=erva- 
tions— Influence .of particular Localities, Buildings, 



&c.— No satisfactory Explanation yet given of the 
Variations— Becquerel's Explanation of the Phenom- 
ena of Varialion— Distribution of Electricity of the 
Air— tiesative State of the Earth— Electricity of the 
Air in clouded iVeather—Schiihler'B Observations- 
Table of ObseiT^ations explained, &c. &.c. 

LECTURE XLII evaporation. 

Erroneously ascribed to Chemical Combination — 
Takes place from the Surface— Law discovered by 
Dalton extended to all Liquids— Limit of Evapora- 
tion conjectured by Faraday— Hygrometers— Vari- 
ous Phenomena explained by Evaporation— Leslie's 
Method of Freezing— Examples in the useful Arts- 
Methods of CooUng by Evaporation— Dangerous Ef- 
fects of Dampness— WoUaston's Cryophorus— Pneu- 
matic Ink-Bottle— Clouds— Dew, Sec. <fcc. 

LECTURE XLIII conduction of heat. 

Conducting Powers of Bodies— Liquids Non-con- 
ductors— EtTect of Feathers and Wool on Animals— 
Clothing— Familiar Examples. 

LECTURE XLIV relation of heat 

AND LIGHT. 
Probable Identity of Heat and Light— Incandes- 
cence— Probable Temperature of— Gases cannot be 
made Incandescent— The Absorption and Reflection 
of Heat depend on Color— Bumiog-Glass— Heat of 
Sun's Rays— Heat of Artificial Light— Moonlight- 
Phosphorescence. 

LECTURE XLV action and reaction. 

Inertia in a single Body— Consequence of Inertia in 
two or more Bodies— Excimples— Motion not esti- 
mated by Speed or Velocity alone- Examples— Rule 
for estimating the Quantity of Motion— Action and 
Reaction— Examples of— Magnet and Iron— Feather 
and Cannon-Bali impinging— Newton's Laws of Mo- 
tion. 

LECTURE XLVI composition and 

resolution of force. 

Motion and Pressure— Force — Attraction— Paral- 
lelogram of Forces— Resultant— Components— Com- 
posilion of Force— Resolution of Force— Illustrative 
Experiments — Composition of Pressures — Theorems 
regulating Pressures also regulate Motion— Boat in a 
Current— Motions of Fishes— Flight of Birds— Sails 
of a Vessel— Tacking— Equestrian Feats, ice. &-C. 

LECTURE XLVII center of gravity. 

Terrestrial Attraction the combined Action of Par- 
allel Forces— Method of finding the Center of Gravity 
— Luie of Direction— Globe— Oblate Spheroid— Pro- 
late Spheroid— Cube— Straight Wand— Flat Plate— 
IVianeular Plate— Center of Gravity not always with- 
in the^Body- A Ring— Experiments— Motion and Po- 
sition of the Arms and Feet— Etiect of the Knee-Joint 
— Positions of a Dancer — Porter under a Load — Mo- 
tion of a Quadruped Rope-Dancing Center of 

Gravity of two Bodies separated from each other — 

Mathematical and Experimental Examples The 

Conservation of the Motion of the Center of Gravity 

Solar System — Center of Gravity sometimes called 

Center of Inertia, &c. &c. 

LECTURE XL VIII the lever and 

WHEEL-WORK. 

Simple Machine — Statics Dynamics Force — 

Power Weight — Lever — Cord — Inclined Plane — 

Arms — Fulcrum — Three kinds of Lever — Crow-Bar 
—Handspike— Oar— Nut-Crackers— Turning-Lathe— 
Steelyard — Rectangular Lever — Hammer — Load be- 
tween two Bearers — Combination of Levers — Equiv- 
alent Lever— Wheel and Axle— Thickness of the 
Rope — Ways of applying the Power — Projecting Pins 
— Windlass — -Winch— Axle— Horizontal Wheel — 
Tread-Mill— Cranes— Water-Whocl&— Paddle-Wheel 
— Racket-Wheel—Rack— Spring of a Watch— Fusee 
— Straps or Cords — Examples of— Turaing Lathe — 
Revolving Shafts — Spinning Machinery — Saw-Mill — 

Pinion Leaves Oane Spur- Wheels Crown- 

Wheels-^5eveledWhepl3—Huntinf -Cog— Chronom- 
eters — Haii'-Spring — Bulaiice-Vyyieel, &-C. 



LECTURE XLIX the pulley. 

Cord— Sheave — Fixed Pulley— Fire Escapes — Sin- 
gle Movable Pulley— Systems of Pulleys— Smeaton's 
Tackle— White's Pulley — Advantage of — Runner- 
Spanish Bartons. 

LECTURE L...THE inclined plane, wedge 

AND SCREW. 
Inclined Plane— Effect of a Weight on— Power of— 
Roads— Plane sometimes moves under the Weight 
— Wedge — Sometimes formed of two Inclined Planes 
—More powerful as its Angle is Acute— Where used 
—Limits to the Angle— Screw— Examples. 

LECTURE LI ebullition. 

Process of Boiling — Vaporization and Condensa- 
tion—Latent Heat of Steam— Experiments of Black- 
Effect of Atmospheric Pressure on Boiling Point — 
Relation between the Barometer and the Boiling 
Point— Effect of the Altitude of the Station of the Boil- 
ing Point— Elasticity of Steam— Its Lightness— Effect 
of the Compression of Steam without Loss of Heat — 
Steam cannot be liquified by mere Pressure — Boil- 
ing Points and Latent Heat of other Liquids— Con- 
densation of Vapor— Principle of the Steam-Engine — 
Natm-e of Permanent Gases— Examples of the Appli- 
cation of the Properties of Steam. 

LECTURE LII combustion. 

Flame produced by Chemical Combination — Sup- 
porters of Combustion and Combustibles— Oxygen 
chief Supporter— Heat of Combustion — Flame — Its 
illuminating Powers— Combustion without Flame — 
Property of spongy Platinum— Table of Heat evolved 
in Combustion— Theory of Lavoisier— Of Hook and 
others— Electric Theory. 

LECTURE LlII how to observe the 

HEAVENS. 
Interesting Nature of the Subject— Diurnal Rota- 
tion— Circumpolar Stars — Ursa Major — Forms of the 
Constellations— The Pointers— The Pole-Star— Cas- 
siopeia— Capella— The Swan— Equatorial Constella- 
tions— Oion — Sirius, or the Dog-StAT—Aldebaran — 
Procyon— Auriga — Columba — Herschel's Obsena- 
tions on Sirius— Dr. WoUaston's Observations — As- 
pect of the Heavens at ditterent Seasons of the Year 
— Uses of the Celestial Globe — To ascertain the As- 
pect of the Heavens on any Night, at any Hour— Ef- 
fect of the Telescope on Fixed Stars — Relative Bright- 
ness of the Stars— Theory of Telescopes— Descrip- 
tion of the Micrometer, &c. &c. 

LECTURE LIV the stellar universe. 

(First Lecttire.) 
Range of Vision — Augmented by the Telescope — 
Periodic Stars — Examples of this Class — Various Hy- 
potheses to explain these Appearances — Temporary 
Stars — Remarkable Examples of this CXasi— Double 
Stars — Their vast Number — Telescopic Views of 
them— Researches of Sir W. Heschel- Extension of 
Gravitation to the Stars— Their elliptic Orbits discov- 
ered—Effects of double and colored Suns— Proper 
Mouo?(S o/(/ie 5«ars— Probable Motion of the Solar 
System — Analysis of its Effects — Motions of the 
Stars, &c. <tc. 

LECTURE LV the stellar universe, 

(Second Lecture.) 
Form and Arrangement of the Mass of Visible Stars 

Sir W. Herschel's Analysis of the Heavens— The 

Milky Way — The vast Numbers of Stars in it — Neb- 
ulie and Clusters — Great Nebula in Orion — Megal- 
lanic Clouds— Planetary Nebula; — Vast Number of 
Nebulas — Herschel's Catalogue — Structure of the 
Universe— Laplace's NebularHypothesis— Examina- 
tion of its moral Tendency. 

LECTURE LVI the steam-engine. 

(First Lecture.) 

The Steara-Engine a Subject of Popular Interest — 
Effects of Steam— Great Power of Steam — Mechan- 
ical Properties ef Fluids— Elasticity of Gases— Effects 
of Heat — Savory's Engine — Boilers and their Append- 



DR. LARDNER S LECTURES. 



ages — Working Apparatus — Mode of Operarion — De- 
fects of Savery'3 Engine — Newcomen and Cawley'a 
Patent — Accidental Discovery of Condensation by In- 
jection — Potter's Invention of the Method of Worls- 
ing the Valves — His Contrivance improved by the 
Substitution of the Plug-Frame. 

LECTURE LVII the steam-engine, 

(Second Lecture.) 

Mechanical Force of Steam — Watt finds Condensa- 
tion in the Cylinder incompatible with a due Econo- 
my of Fuel— Conceives the notion of Condensing out 
of the Cylinder — Invents the Air-Pump — Substitutes 
Steam Pressure for Atmospheric Pressure — Invents 
the Steam Case or Jacket — His Models — Difficulties 
of bringing the Improved Engine into Use — Watt em- 
ployed by Roebuck — His Partnership — His first Pa- 
tent — His Single-Acting Engine — Discovery of the 
Expansive Action of Steam — Extension of the Steam- 
Engine to Manufactures — Attempts of Papin, Savery, 
HuU, Champion, Stewart, and Wasbrough — Watt's 
Second Patent— Sun-and-Planet Wheels — Valves of 
Double-Acting Engine. 

LECTURE LVIII the steam-engine. 

(Third Lecture.) 

Methods of Connecting the Piston-Rod and Beam 
in the Double-Acting Engine — Rack and Sector — 
Parallel Motion — Connection of Piston-Rod and Beam 
— Connecting-Rod and Crank — Fly-Wheel — Shuttle- 
Valve — Governor — Construction and Operation of 
the Double-Acting Engine — Eccentric — Cocks and 
Valves — Single-Clack Valves — Double-Clack Valves 
— Conical Valves — Slide Valves — Murray's Slides — 
The D Valves — Seawai'd's Slides — Cocks — Pistons — 
Caitwright's Engine. 

LECTURE LIX the steam-engine. 

(Fourth Lecture.) 

Analysis of Coal — Process of Combustion — Heat 
evolved in it — Form and Structure of Boiler — Wagon- 



Boiler— Furnace— Method of Feeding it— Combustion 
of Gas in Flues— Williams's Patent for Method of 
Consuming unbumed Gases— Constiniction of Grate 
and Ash-Pit- Magnitude of Heating Surface of Boiler 
—Steam-Space and Water-Space in Boiler— Position 
of Flues— Method of Feeding Boiler— Method of In- 
dicating the Level of Water in Boiler— Lever Gauges 
—Self- Regulating Feeders— Steam-Gauge— Barome- 
ter-Gauge— Watt's Invention of the Indicator— Coun- 
ter — Safety- Valve — Fusible Plugs — Self-Regulatine 
Damper— Bi-unton's Self-Regulating Furnace— Gross 
and Useful Effect of an Engine— Horse-Power of 
Steam-Engines— Table exliibiting the Mechanical 
Power of Water converted into Steam at various 
Pressures— Evaporation Proportional to Horse-Power 
—Sources of Loss of Power— Absence of good Prac- 
tical Rules for Power— Common Rules followed by 
Engine-Makers— Duty distinguislied from Power- 
Duty of Boilers— Proportion of Stroke to Diameter of 
Cylinder— Duty of Engines. 

LECTURE LX the steam-engine. 

(Fifth Lecture.) 
Railways— Effects of Railway Transport— History 
of the Locomotive Engine— Construction of Locomo- 
tive Engine by Blinkinsop— Messrs. Chapman's Con- 
trivance—Walking Engine— Mr. Stephenson's En- 
gmes at Killmgworth — Liverpool and Manchester 
Railway— Experimental Trial of the " Rocket," •' Sans- 
pareil," and "Novelty"— Method of Subdividing the 
Flue into Tubes— Progressive Improvement of Lo- 
comotive Engines— Adoption of Brass Tubes— De- 
tailed Description of the most Improved Locomotive 
Engines— Power of Locomotive Engines— Position 
of the Eccenti-ics- Pressure of Steam in the BoUer— 
Dr. Lardner's Experiments in 1838— Resistance to 
RaUway Trains— Dr. Lardner's Experiments on the 
Great Western Railway— Experiments on Resistance 
—Restrictions on Gradients— Compensating Effect of 
Gradients— Experiment with the "Hecla" — Disposi- 
tion of Gradients should be Uniform— Methods of 



surmounting Steep Inclinations, 
S^ The above Work was originally published in Fourteen Numbers or Parts, and sold at the 
extremely low price of 25 cents per Number. Any of the Numbers can still be purchased. The 
entire Work is now completed and sold in two large octavo volumes of about 600 pages each, 
well bound in full cloth, illustrated by 380 Engravings, and sold at $4 50. 

District School Libraries can order these Lectures through any of the Booksellers or Coun- 
try Merchants. Parents, Teachers, Superintendents and Trustees of Common Schools, Farmers 
Mechanics, and all, indeed, who have any desire to increase their store of useful information on 
the subjects embraced in these volumes, are earnestly entreated to examine this Work before 
they throw away their money on the trash, or even worse than trash, that is now so rapidly inun- 
dating the country. 

From among the numerous Recommendatory Notices which the Publishers received during 
the progress of the publication, we have only room to give the following : 
From D. Mekedith Reese, A. M., M. D., Superin- 
tendent of Common Schools in the City and County 
of New-York. 



New-York, Oct. 20th, 1845. 
Messrs. Greeley & McElrath : 

Gentlemen : I have examined the Popular Lectures 
of Dr. Lardner, on Science and Art, with much 
satisfaction, and take pleasure in expressing the 
opinion that you are doing a valuable service to the 
people of our common country by their publication, 
and especially by issuing them in numbers, and at so 
cheap a rate. 

To popularize Science and cheapen Knowledge, 
must be regarded by the philanthropist as worthy of 
the mightiest minds of the age, and to be successful 
in such efl'orts, constitutes their authors public bene- 
factors. These Lectures of Dr. Lardner are ad- 
dressed to the common mind, and though treading 
upon the loftiest of the Natural Sciences, are so plain 
and practical, so simple and attiactive, that all who 
can read may readily profit by their instructions. The 
clear and familiar illustrations and diagrams, which 
abound in every department, are skillfully adapted 
to the apprehension of youth, who should be encour- 
aged every where to read and study them and thus 
promote their own happiness and usefulness. 



I could wish that they were fou»d in every School 
Library, to which their scientific accuracy and nu- 
merous moral reflections upon the wonderful works 
of God should be esteemed no small commendation. 
But they should be found in every work-shop in the 
land ; for Science and Art are here exhibited in their 
true relations ; and the working men of our country 
would find here both entertainment and instruction, 
calculated to improve alike their intellects and their 
morals- D. M. Reese. 

Albanv, May 5, 1846. 
Greeley & McEleath: 

Gentlemen : I cordially and cheerfully concur with 
my friend. Dr. Reese, in the high appreciation which 
he places on your edition of Dr. Lardner's Lectures, 
and have no hesitation in recommending them as a 
most valuable acquisition to our School Libraries. 
Saml. S. Randall, 

Dep. Supt. Com. Schools. 
" These publications are admirably adapted to in- 
terest and instruct the general reader." 

[Norwich Gleaner. 
"No man has succeeded better in giving popular 
interest to abstruse subjects than Dr. Lardner." 

[ Worcester Mgis. 



DR. LARDNER S LECTURES, &C. 



" The work will be a very interesting and valuable 
one, and ought to be found in many places nov? mo- 
nopolized by the worthless rubbish of the day ; we 
mean cheap novels. We think great credit is due to 
Greeley & McElrath, for their etiort to bring Science 
within the reach of so many, and make it the fire- 
side companion of almost every home. Let them be 
liberally patronized." [ JVhUe Mountain Torrent. 

" The work will be a valuable one, and the sale 
must be immense." [Bellows Falls Gazette. 

" We hope these enterprising publishers may be 
liberally encouraged in the eftbrt to furnish reading 
for the people." [Christian Freeman. 

"The citizens of small country towns which are 
not visited by such Lecturers as Dr. Lardner, are 
under weighty obligations to Messrs. Greeley & 
McElrath for the opportunity thus afforded, to put 
themselves in possession of a work of much merit." 
[ Whig, ( Wayne Co. N. Y.) 

•' A valuable accession to the Scientific Literature of 
the day ; worth a ton of the sickening love stories 
that flood the country." [Eastport Sentinel, (Me.) 

" One happy and remarkable trait of the work is, 
its perfect adaptation to the most common minds. 
Wo trust that such a work will receive, from the 
reading community that encouragement which it so 
iustly merits ; that it will be found on every farmer's 
table, and in every library." [Enterprise, (Md.) 

" tf our youth would once taste, and get interested 
in Science" thus taught, they would find a method of 
employing their reading hours more happy and use- 
ful for themselves as well as for all whose character 
and happiness are affected by them, than in devour- 
ing the light and often immoral stories and romances 
which flood the countrj'." [ Christian Mirror. 

"The most valuable Lectures ever published in 
the United Stales." [Talladega Reporter, (Ala.) 

"A work of high value, and must find a wide circu- 
lation." [Baltimore Patriot. 

"We consider these Lectures among the most 
valuable reading that has ever been oftered to the 
American public." [Cultivator. 

" We know of no publication iu this department of 
Literature which has succeeded so well, in stripping 



an unwise and erudite philology from a vast mine of 
mental wealth, and exhibiting its attractions to the 
delighted gaze of the ' unlettered hind,' as well as to 
the student of Nature's manifold mysteries. 

"We would be glad to see these interesting dis- 
sertations in every family, (and we think their cheap- 
ness renders them easily accessible to most,) because 
there is a solidity of matter and a vigor of style about 
them, which will render them as instructive and im- 
pressive to succeeding generations as to the present." 

[The Virginian. 

"We wish our renders may, one and all, have the 
gratification and the benefit of using such mental food 
as these Lectures afford." 

[American Freeman, Wis. T. 

" These Lectures of Doct Lardner are of great 
value. They treat of interesting and important sub- 
jects and embody a vast amount of valuable informa- 
tion in an attractive and agieeable style. If our 
young men and girls would save the ninepences and 
quarters to buy this work which they now spend for 
the disgusting and sickening love stories which flood 
the country, and which they so eageriy seek for, they 
would find their heads filled up with something use- 
ftil and instructive, instead of vulgar trash." 

[Thomaston Recorder. 

" This work ought to be in the hands of every 
young mechanic in the land, as well as the astrono- 
mer and man of science, as mechanics and mechan- 
ism occupy a large place." 

[People's Advocate, York, Pa. 

" We cannot forbear to recommend this work to 
the attention of all who wish to acquaint themselves 
in the easiest and cheapest way with the wonderful 
and mysterious agencies of physical nature. To 
the student and the teacher, the professional man 
and the day laborer, it is a work equally valuable and 
interesting. The whole series will comprise, at a 
comparatively trifling expense, one of the most valu- 
able compendiuras of Natural Philosophy and Me- 
chanical Science to be found in the language. To 
young men and mechanics who want the leisure to 
delve through more abstruse and voluminous works, 
these Lectures will be found invaluable." 

[Independent Democrat, Concord, N. H. 



1^° Any person wishing to procure this valuable work may apply to our Agents, or to any of 
the Booksellers or Country Merchants in any part of the United States. Orders are respectfully 
gQlJcJted. GREELEY & McELRATH, Tribune Buildings, New-York. 



HUMAN RIGHTS. 

ESSAYS ON HUMAN RIGHTS AND THEIR POLITICAL GUARANTIES. By Eusha P. Hurl- 
but, Counsellor at Law of the City of New York. 1 vol. 12mo. 

Its several chapters discuss the following topics : I. The Origin of Human Rights ; II. The true Func- 
tion of Government ; HI. The Constitution of Government ; IV., V. Constitutional Limitations and 
Prohibitions ; VI. The Elective Franchise ; VII. Rights emanating from the Sentiments and Afl^ections ; 
VIII. The Rights of Woman ; IX. The Right of Property and its Moral Relations ; X. Intellectual Prop- 
erty IE? The Work is printed on a fair, large type, and sold retail at 50 cents per copy. 



LECTURES ON ASTRONOMY, 

Delivered at the Royal Observatory of Paris. By M. Arago, Member of the Institute of France, «fec. 
With extensive additions by Dionysius Lardner, former Professor of Astronomy and Natural Philoso- 
phy in the University of London. Illustrated with numerous cuts and diagrams. 

Appendix.— Table of the Constellations, with the number of stars in each, as far as those of the sixth 
magnitude. Summary. ,.3 ^, , . 

Price 25 cents ; five copies for $1. Agents and Booksellers supphed on the usual terms. 

HISTORY OF THE SILK CULTURE. 

THE SILK CULTURE IN THE UNITED STATES— embracing complete accounts of the latest and 
most approved mode of Hatching, Rearing, and Feeding the Silk-Worm, Managing the Cocoonery, 
Reeling, Spinning, and Manufacturing of the Silk, &c., &c. ; with Historical Sketches of the Silk Busi- 
ness ; Natural History of the Silk- Worm, the Mulberry, &c. Illustrated by numerous engravings of 
Machinery and Processes, and a Manual of the Silk. Culture. Price 25 cents ; five copies lor ?1. 



GREAT BOOK FOR FARMERS! 

LET EVERY FARMER IN THE UNITED STATES HAVE A COPY! 

let every Farmer ia the United States subscribe for a Copy for his Son. It may prove of 

more value to him than a Horse, or even a Farm ! 

THE FARMERS' LIBRARY 

AND 

MONTHLY JOURNAL OF AGRICULTURE. 



JOHN S. SKINNER, Editor. 



Each number consists of two distinct parts, 
\iz: 

I. The Farmers' Library, in whicli are 
published continuously the best Standard 
Wwks on Agriculture, embracing those which, 
by their cost or the language in which they are 
written, would otherwise seem beyond the reach 
of nearly all American Farmers. In this way 
we give for two or three dollars the choicest 
European treatises and researches in Agricul- 
ture, costing ten times as much in the original 
editions, not easily obtained at any price, and 
virtually out of the reach of men who live by 
following the plow. The works published in 
the Library will form a complete series, explor- 
ing and exhibiting the whole field of Natural 
Science, and developing the rich ti-easures 
which Chemistry, Geology, and Mechanics 
have yielded and may yield to lighten the la- 
bors and swell the harvests of the intelligent 
husbandman. 

II. The Monthly Journal of Agricul- 
ture will likewise contain about 50 pages per 
month, and will comprise, 1. Foreign: Selec- 
tions from the higher class of British, French 
and German periodicals devoted to Agriculture, 
with extracts from new^ books w^hich may not 
be published in the Library, &c. &c. 2. Ameri- 
can : Editorials, communicated and selected 
accounts of experiments, improved processes, 
discoveries in Agriculture, new implements, 
&c. &c. In this department alone will ours re- 
semble any American work ever yet published. 
It can hardly be necessary to add that no Politi- 
cal, Economic, or other controverted doctrine, 
will be inculcated through this magazine. 

Each number of the Library is illustrated by 
numerous Engravings, printed on type obtained 
expressly for this work, and on good paper — 
the whole got up as such a work should be. 

This Monthly, which is by far the amplest and 
most comprehensive Agricultural periodical ever es- 
tablished in America, was commenced in the month 
of July, 1845, and before the close of the first year 
among its subscribers were embraced many of tie 
most intelligent farmers, professional men, and re- 
fired gentlemen in every City and State in the Union 
The reprint of standard works and the variety, ele- 
gance and costliness of the Kngravings will always, 
render this one of the most useful and interesting, 
and, in view of the amount of reading matter, the 
cheapest Farming periodical in this or any other 



country. The beautiful work of Petzholdt onAg- 
RicuLTUKAL Chemistky WHS published complete in 
the first two numbers of the Fakmebs' Libbaby ; and 
the gieat work of Von Thaek on the Peinciples 
OF AoRicniTriE, translated by Wm. Shaw and 
CuTHBEET Johnson, with a Memoir of the Au- 
thor, &c. was commenced in the number of the Li- 
BBARY for September, 1845, and will be completed 
entire, without abridgment, in the June number for 
1846. This justly celebrated work is alone worth the 
full subscription price of the Farmers' Library, and 
yet it is not more than one-third of what each sub- 
scriber to the Work receives for his subscription 
money. Tliis work of Von Thaer was originally 
written and published in the GeiTnan language, trans- 
lated and published in the French and afterward in 
the English language. It is pronounced by compe- 
tent judges to be the most finished Agricultui-al Book 
which has ever been vn-itten. The Loudon edition 
is printed in two octavo volumes, and is sold at about 
$8 per copy. 

Von Thaer was educated for a Physician, the prac- 
tice of which he relinquished for the more quiet and 
philosophical pursuits of Agriculture. Soon after he 
commenced farming he introduced such decided 
improvements upon his farm that his fame was soon 
known from one endofEurope to the other. The most 
celebrated farmers of England, France, Denmaj-k, 
Germ;my, vfec. courted his friendship, and his writings 
were eveiywhere sought and studied. 

The following subjects are discussed in the work 
of Von Thaer, and the manner of treating each sub- 
ject is original, philosojthical and practical. 



J 



Section I. The Fundamental Principles : A 

Sketch of Systematic Agriculture ; The Bases of the 
Science of Agriculture ; The Bases of Enterprise ; 
Capital ; The Farm, and the Manner of taking Pos- 
session of it; Leasehold EsUites ; Hereditary Leases. 

Sec IL The Econoimy, Organization and Di- 
rection OF AN Agricultural Enterprise : — I,a- 
borin General; Draught Labor ; Manual Labor ; The 
Proper Method of keeping the Journals, Registers, and 
other Books connected with an Agiicultural Under- 
taking ; Proportion of Manure to the Quantity of Fod- 
der and the number of Cattle ; The various Systems 
of Cultivation ; Class 1— The Cultivarion of Corn — 
Alternate Cultivation— Alternate Rotations with Pas- 
turage—On the Succession of Crops — Alteniate Cul- 
tivation, accompanied by a suitable Succession of 
Crops and Pasturage— Alternate Cultivation, whh 
Stall-Feeding of the Cattle— Four Crop Divisions- 
Five Crop "Divisions— Six Crop Divisions— Seven 
Crop Divisions — Eight Crop Divisions — Nine Crop 
Divisions — Ten Crop Divisions — Eleven Crop Divis- 
ions — Twelve Crop Divisions — Twelve Crop Di^is- 
ions— The Transition from one Rotation to anther. 

Sec. HI. Agronomy; or a Treatise on the 
Constituent Parts and Physical Properties of 
THE Soil, and the Best Method of Acquiring 
A Knowledge of the Different Earths, and 
Ascertaining their Value :— Silica ; Alumina; 
Clay ; Lime ; Gypsum, or Sulphate of Lime ; Marl ; 



Ma-Tiesia ; Iron ; Ilinnus ; Peat ; The Difierent Spe- 
cies of Em-lbs, their Value, Employment, and Proper- 
ties, in their Relations to the Constituent Paits of the 

Sec. IV. Agriculture :— Part 1— On Manuring 
and Ameliorating the Soil: Vegetable Manures- 
Mineral Manures. Part 2- On the Tillage ot the 
Soil, or its Mechanical Amelioration; Agricultural 
Implements; On Plowing; On Clearing Land; 
Hedges, Fences and Enclosures; On the Draining of 
Land ; On the Draining of various kinds of Mai-shes ; 
In-igation ; On Earthing and Warping; On the Man- 
agement of Meadow Land ; The Hay Harvest ; On 
the various kinds of Pastures. 

Sec. V. On the Reproduction of Animax and 
Vegetable Substances :— Vegetable Reproduc- 
tion ; Wheat: Spring Wheat— Spelt— One-grained 
Wheat (Einkorn of the Gemians.)- Smut, or Caries 
in Wheat ( Brand) i—Kye ; Barley: Common, or 
Small Quadrangular Barley Two-rowed, Long- 
eared, or Large Flat Barley— Siberian, or Quadran- 
gular Naked Bariey— Naked Flat Barley— Six-rowed, 
or Winter Barley ; — Oats (AveTia Sativa) ; Millet 
(Panicum) ; On the Cultivation of Grain in Rows, or 
with the Hor.se-hoe ; Leguminous Crops ; The Pea ; 
The Lentil ; Kidney-Beans, (Haricots) ; Beans ( Vicia 
Fabia) ; Vetches : Common Vetch ( Fetch Sativa) ; 
Buckwheat ( Polygonum Fa^opynim) ; Meslin— Mix- 
tures of Difierent Kinds of Grain; Culture of Hoed 
or Weeded Crops ; Vegetables for the Market ; Oil- 
Plants; Colza and Rape (Autumnal Varieties)— 
Spring Colza, or Spring Rape— Mustard— Oily Rad- 
ish (Pinphanus Chmensis OUiferus )~Cu\tivateAGo\d 
(Myagrum Sativum)— Common Poppy 



ture of which has been proposed for the sake of their 
Thread : Syrian Svi^allow Wort, or Virginian Silk 
(Asclepias Syriaca) — Common Nettle ( I/rtica Dioi- 
caj— Fullers' Teasle (Dfpsaa/s FaZtori/m^ ,— Color- 
ing-Plants: Dyers' Madder {Ruhia Tinaomm) — Dy- 
ers' Woad (Isalis Tinctoria)— Dyers' Weld (Reseda 
Luteola) — Bastard Saflron {Carthamus Tinctorius); — 
The Hop; Tobacco; Chiccory; Carraway (.Carum 
Carui) ; Common Fennel (Fceniculum, Vulgare) ; 
Anise (Pimpinelle Anisum) ; Culture of Fodder- 
Plants: The Pouito— The Field-Beet— The Turnip 
{Brassica iJupa)— Turnips which will not bear Trans- 
planting— Turnips so properly called— Turnips ad- 
mitting of Transplantation— "The Turnip Cabbage — 
ComnTon Red and White Cabbage (Brai^sica Olero 
cea ; var. Capitata) — Carrots — The Parsnip — Maize, 
or Indian Com ( Tea Mais) ;— Herbage Plants : Com- 
mon Purple Clover {TrefoUum Pratense, var. Sati- 
vum)— White, or Dutch Clover (Trifolium Repens) — 
Strawberry Trefoil (Trifolium FragifiTiim)— Lu- 
cerne (Medicago Sativa) — Sainfoin {Hedisarvm Ono- 
hrychis)—Yc\\ow Sickle Medick (Medicago Falcata) 
— Black Medick or Nonsuch (Medicago Lvpulina) — 
Com SpuiTy (Spergula Arvensis)— The Tall-gi-ow- 
ing Grasses — Ray Grass (Solium Perenne) — Common 
Oatlike Grass (Avcna Elatior)—Ta.]\ Fescue Grass 
(Festuca Elatior)— Cock' sfoot Grass (Dactylis Glom- 
erata) — Dog-tail Grass (Cynosurus Cristatus)— Com- 
mon Cat's-tail or Timothy Grass (Pkeleum Pratense) 
— Woolly Soft Grass (Holcus Sanatus) — Meadow 
Fox-tail Grass {Alopecurus Pratensis) — Meadow 
Grass (Poa). 

Sec. VI. The Economy OF Live Stock: — Homed 
Cattle ; Breeding Cattle— Feeding of Cattle ;— The 
Daily: Cheese Making; — Fattening of Homed Cat 
tie ; Swine ; Sheep ; Horses. 



of Pleasure , ^ ^ 

(Fnpaver Somniferum) ; Thread Plants: Flax- 
Hemp (Carinnijs Sativa) ;— Other Plants, the Cui 

|^= The subscription price to the Farmers' Library and Monthly Journal of Agricul- 
ture, containing 2 vols, of COO pages each, with numerous Engravings, is Five Dollars a year. 
Where live persons club together and send us $20, we send five copies. Payment is invariably 
required in advance. Money may be remitted through the Mail at our risk. The Bank notes of 
any State of specie paying Banks, are received at par. Address 

GREELEY <5c McELRATH, Publishers, Tribune Buildings, New-York. 

LECTURES TO FARMERS 

ON 

AGRICULTURAL CHEMISTRY. 

By ALEXANDER PETZHOLDT. 
The taste for Scientific Agriculture in the United States has created a demand for the vei-y in- 
formation which these Lectures supply. " The motive," says the author, " which has indnced me 
to prepare such a Course of Lectures, is the complaint I have heard from many of you, that, be- 
ing unacquainted wiih the elements of Chemistry, you have found it difficult to understand the 
questions which are at the present moment so wannly di-scussed, respectuig the theory and prac- 
tice of Asriculture." This work being less scientific and technical in its language than Liebig's 
work, is on that account better adapted for the use of general Farmers and ought to be first read. 
The author in his Preface says that a " perusal of this work with ordinary attention will fm-nish 
the neces.sary amount of chemical information for the purposes of the Farmer." 

In reference to the first two volumes of the Farmers' Library and Monthly Journal of Agricul- 
ture, now bound up and ready for sale, the Hon. N. S. Benton, Secretarj- of State of the State of 
New York, writes to the publishers as follows : — 

Secretary's Office, Department of Common Schools, 

Albany, July 15, 1846. 

1 have examined, with as much care and attention as my time would permit, the first volumes of the 
JOURNAL OF AGRICULTURE AND THE FARMERS' LIBRARY, published by Messrs. Greeley & 
McElrath, New York, and do not perceive any objections to their introduction into the School District 
Libraries of the State ; and I can have no doubt this work would prove valuable acquisitions in all. bat 
esDecially to those where the subject of agriculture excites the attention of the inhabitants of the district. 

^ ' JO j^ g BENTON, Supt. Com. Schools. 

The Deputy Superintendent of the Common Schools of the State of New York, writes as fol- 
lows : — 

Secretary's Office, Department of Common Schools, 
Messrs. Greeley <fe McElrath :— Albany, July 9, 1846. 

Gentlemen : I should be happy to see this work (the Farmers' Library and Journal of Agricul- 
ture) in every School Library in the State ; and I hope you will be able to afford it at a price which will 
place it at the command of the rural districts especially, where 1 am sure it can not fail of being highly 
appreciated and extensively read. Works of this description are, in my judgment, eminently suitable for 
our District Libraries ; and I know of none more useful or practical than the present. Its execution is 
exceedingly creditable to the publishers ; and the vast amount of interesting matter comprised in its 
pages can not fail of insuring it a wide circulation among the agricultural community— the bulwark of 
the State. Very respectfully, 

S. S. RANDALL, Dep. Supt. Com. Schools. 



THE FARMERS' LIBRARY 



'n 



AND 



MONTHLY JOURNAL OP AGRICULTURE. 

The first year of this great Agricultural Periodical closes with tlie June number, 1846. The 
pages of the Library portion are occupied with Petzholdt's Agricultural Chemistry and Von 
Thaer's Principles of Agriculture. The pages of the Monthly -Toumal portion of the work are very 
diversified in theu; subjects. The following are some of the reading articles : 



No. I — (July).— Memoir of the late Stephen Van 
Rensselaer (with a fine steel pom-ait) ; Deep Plow- 
ing — An Experiment illustrating its Effects ; British 
Agi-icultural Dissertations ; Prize Essay on FaiTn 
Management, (with an engi-aved Plan for laying out a 
farm); Fall Plowing; On the Value and the Progress 
of Agricultural Science, with Extracts — from J. S. 
Wadsworth ; The Poetiy of Rural Life ; Claims of 
Agriculture upon the Business Community ; Guano 
— Recent Experiments in Marj'land and Virginia; 
South-Down Sheep (with lithogi'aphic porti-aits) ; 
Letter from Hon. Andrew Stevenson of Virginia ; 
Southern Agriculture — Remarks of the Editor; The 
Silk Plant of Tripoli (with a lithographic illustration) 
— Letter from D. S. McCauley to Francis Markoe ; 
Culture of Silk in South Carolina ; A New Vegeta- 
ble (Kohl Rabi) and New Grasses (Tussac Grassl — 
Recommended to be imported; Agricultural Ma- 
chines patented'*; Effects of Electricity on Vegetation ; 
The Disease in Potatoes — Various Theories ; Notices 
of New Books ; Great Sale of Cattle at Albany ; 
Items, &c. 

No. II — (August). — Lady Suffolk (with a portrait); 
A Dissertation on Horse-Breeding, and on the Trot- 
ting Horses of the CJ. S. ; Obituary Notice of Gen. T. 
M. Fonnan, of Md. ; Turnip Culture in England ; 
Under-Draining; Irrigation ; Water-Meadows ; Ento- 
mology ; Canada Thistle (illustrated) ; Comparative 
Value of Different Kinds of Sheep for the New-York 
Farmer ; On the Preservation of Health ; The Cause 
of Education ; Agricultural Associations and Science; 
Draining-Tile ; Lime as a Fertilizer ; XVIIIth Annual 
Fair of the American InstiUite ; New- York State Ag- 
ricultural Society Cattle Show at Utica ; Good Signs 
for the South, &c. &c. 

No. Ill — (September). — Brief Sketch of the Quali- 
ties of the Shoit-Homed Bull (with a portrait)— On 
the Good and Bad Points of Cattle ; St. John's Day 
Rye and Lucerne ; N. Y. State Agricultural Fair ; 
Sugar— its Culture and Manufacmre ; Comparison of 
Guano with other Manures ; Mismanagement of Sta- 
ble-Dung Manure ; Entomology ; Cheshire Cheese — 
A Prize Essay, by Henry White ; Silk Plant— Guano; 
Native or Wild Maize ; Thoughts on Trees and 
Flowers ; The Clergy — their power to improve the 
Public Taste for Agriculture and Horticulture — Let- 
ter from Rev. J. O. Choules ; The Poetry of Rural 
Life ; Trials of Sulphuric Acid and Bones for Turnips; 
Use of Sulphuric Acid with Bones aa Compost; Cot- 
ton Plant (illustrated), &c. &c. 

No. IV — (Octobek). — Memoir of Liebig (witli a 
portrait; ; The Sort of Information wanted at the 
South ; To Prevent Smut in Wheat ; Memoir of the 
Cotton Plant, by W. B. Beabrook ; The Central nr 
Red-Land District of Virginia — Letter from Hon. W. 
L. Goggin ; Various Opinions on Soiling ; Principles 
to observe in the erection of Farm Houses ; Manage- 
Bient of Farms — Mr Hammond's Fann ; Atmosphere 
of Stables ; Reflections on the Progress of Agiicul- 
tural Improvement, and the Political and Moral In- 
fluence of Rural Life — Letter from Gen. Dearborn ; 
Progi-ess of Agriculmral Improvement — Letter from 
Judge Rost : Improvement in the mode of attaching 
Horses to Wagons ; Paring and Burning ; The Cen- 
ter of Gravity (illusti-ated) ; A Review on the Past, 
Present, and Fumre State of the Wool Market ; List 
of Premiums awarded by the New- York State Agii- 
cultural Fair, &c. &c. 

No. V — (November). Memoir of Hon. Richard 
Peters of Pa. (with a portrait) ; Tunisian Sheep (with 



portraits) ; History and Uses of the Cotton Plant ; 
Lette- a om Dr. J. Johnson of S. C. on the Silk Plant ; 
Inoughts on Transplanting Ti-ees ; Agiicultural Ad- 
dress before the Queens Co. Ag. So. by J. S. Skin- 
ner; Guano as a Manure ; Liebig's Explanation of 
the Principles and use of Artificial Manures ; Wine 
Making, by Rev. S. Weller, with Notes by S. Clark ; 
How to keep Farm Registers : Entomology ; Man- 
agement of Bees ; Sulphuric Acid and Bones; The 
Fair of the American Institute ; Sheep and Chest- 
nuts, &c. &c. 

No. VI— (December).— Poultry (with illustrations); 
Successful Experimenis in Soiling; Agi-iculmral 
Products of the United States and Great Britain ; The 
Potato Murrain ; Consumption of Sugiu in Europe 
and North America ; Wages and Condition of Wo- 
men and ChUdren employed in the Agricultural La- 
bor in England; History and use of the Cotton 
Plant (concluded) ; Wool-growing at the South ; (;)n 
Breeding Horses ; Education in Virginia ; Potato 
Starch ; The Inclined Plane (with illustrations) ; Pea 
Culmre in the South ; Societies for the Promotion 
of Agriculture, Horticulture, &c. ; Agricultural Pre- 
miums ; Sheep Husbandly; Peters's Agricultural 
Account Book ; Exposition of the Condition and Re- 
som-ces of Delaware, &c. 

No. VII — (Januarv).- Farm Buildings (with illus- 
trations) ; Treatise on Milch Cows, whereby the 
Quantity and Quality of Milk which any Cow will 
give may be accurately determined (with numerous 
illustrations) — by M. Fr. Gufnon ; Maryland Farmers' 
Club on the Right Tack ; The Mode in which Lime 
Operates on Soil ; Poultry and Useful Recipes ; 
Thoughts on the Distribution of Labor ; Jerasalem 
Artichoke ; Cellars vs. Spiing-Houses for Dairies ; 
Flax and Hemp Husbandry ; One-Horse Carta (with 
illustrations) ; The Hydraulic Ram (with illustia- 
tions) ; Comparative \'iews of the Progress of Popu- 
lation in different Regions of the United States ; The 
Importance of Draining Land, &c. 

No. VIII — (February). — Treatise on Milch Cows 
(with illustrations) — continued ; The Potato Disease ; 
Characteristics of difterent Breeds ofHorses — by Hon. 
Zadock Pratt ; On Fattening Cattle ; The Language 
of Birds^Character and Habits of the Whip-poor- 
will; The Importance of acquuing a Knowledge ol 
the Natural Science ; " I/ime Enricheth the Father 
but Impoverisheth the Son " ; Capital needed for Ag- 
ricultural Improvement ; The Use of Salt to Man and 
Animals ; On the Curing of Provisions for the British 
Markets ; Sketch of Belgian Husbandry j The Flower 
Garden, &c. &c. 

No. IX— (March). — Smithsonian Fund ; The Pro- 
per Position of Country Dwelling-Houses and Bams; 
Raising Potatoes from Seed ; Scheme of Reducing 
the Quantity of Cotton ; Southern Hemp, or Bear- 
Grass ; Insects Injurious to Vegetation ; Importing 
Societies ; Treatise on Milch Cows — continued ; 
Quaker or Friends' Farming; Flooding Meadows ; 
The Shepherd's Dog, Sec. .tc. 

No. X — (April). — Guano — its Nature and Use 

by Prof Hardy ; Prospects in Virginia for New Set- 
tlers; The Eread-Fniit Tree (with illustrations) ; Su- 
gar, and its Eflects on Man and Animals ; The Sci- 
ence of Botany and Horticulture; Ammonia and 
Water in Guano ; General Treatment of Greenhouse 
Plants ; Effects of Drouth on Indian Cora ; Philadel- 
phia Butter: Treatise on Milch Cows — concluded; 
Labor and Machinery; The Diseases of the Horse ; 
Insects most Injurious to Vegetables and Animals, &c. 



ly Each year's Numbers contain two large octavo volumes of 600 pages each. All the Num- 
bers of the First year cair still be purchased. The First Number of the Second year commences 
with July, 184C. GREELEY & McELRATH, Publisher.?, Tribune Buildings, New- York. 



DISRAELI'S 



CURIOSITIES OF LITERATURE. 

Every body knows that this is a very curious book, because such is its general reputation. But it id 
not known to eveiy one why it is so curious, because comparatively few have had an opportunity of ex- 
amining it for themselves. We give below the headings of the different matters di.scussed or embraced 
in this iatcreeting volume, so that authors, literary and professional gentlemen, and others, may judge for 
themselves, to some extent, at least, whether or not they can longer conveniently dispense with the oppor- 
tunity of personally consulting the work. Did any one ever see such a medley of oddities, or such a 
grouping of the queer things growing out of literary productions and their authors as are contamed in 
what follows ? 



FIRST SERIES. 

Libraries— The Bibliomania— Literary Journals— Re- 
covery of Manuscripts— Sketches of Criticism— The Per- 
eecuted Leamed— Poverty of the Learned— Imprison- 
ment of the Learned— Amusements of the Leamed— Por- 
traits of Authors— Destruction of Books— Some Notices 
of Lost Works— Quodlibets, or Scholastic Disquisitions- 
Fame Contemned— The Six Follies of Science— Imita- 
tors— Cicero's Puns— Prefaces— The Ancienta and Mod- 
ems—Some Ingenious Thoughts- Early Printing— EiTata 

Patrons— Poets, Philosophers and Artists made by Ao- 

cident— Inequalities of Genius— Conception and Expres- 
Bion— Geographical Diction— Legends— The Port-Royal 
Society— The progress 
Spanish Poetry 
in Conversation 



The 

of Old Age in New Studies — 

St. Evremond — Men of Genius deficient 

Vida — The Scuderies — De La Roche- 



foucault— Prior's Hans Car\el— The Student in the Me- 
IropoUs- The Talmud— Rabbinical Stories— On the Cus- 
tom of Saluting after Sneezing— Bonaventure de Periers 
Grotius— Noblemen turned critics— Literary Impos- 
tures—Cardinal Richelieu— Aristotle and Plato— Abelard 
and Eloisa— Pbysiognomy — Characters described by Mu- 
sical Notes— Milton— Origin of Newspapers— Trials and 
Proofs of Guilt in Superstitious Ages— Inquisition— Singu- 
larities observed by various Nations in their Repasts — 
Monarchs— Titles of lUusti-ious, Highness, and Excel- 

jgjice TitlesofSovereigns— Royal Divinities— Dethroned 

Monarchs— Feudal Customs— Joan of Arc— Gaming— 
The Arabic Chronicle— Metempsychosis— Spanish Eti- 
quette—The Goths and Huns— Of Vicars of Bray— Doug- 
las— Critical History of Poverty— Solomon and Sheba— 
jjell- The Absent Man— Wax-Work— Pasquin and Mar- 

forio Female Beauty and Ornaments— Modem Platon- 

igm— Anecdotes of Fashion— A Senate of Jesuits— The 
Lover's Heart— The History of Gloves— Relics of Saints 
Perpetual Lamps of the Ancients— Natural Produc- 
tions resembling Artificial Compositions— The Poetical 
Garland of Julia— The Violet— Tragic Actors— Jocular 
Preachers — Masterly Imitators— Edward the Fourth— 
Elizabeth— The Chinese Language— Medical Music— Mi- 
nute Writing— Numeral Figures— English Astrologers— 
Alchj-my- Titles of Books— Literary FoUies— Literary 
Controversy— Literary Blunders— A Literary Wife— 
Dedications— Philosophical Descriptive Poems— Pam- 

plilets Little Books— A Catholic's Refutation — The Good 

Advice of an old Literary Sinner— Mysteries, Moralities, 
Farces and Sotties— Love and Folly, an Ancient Morality 

Religious Nouvellettcs— ' Critical Sagacity,' and Happy ' 

Conjecture ; or, Bentley's Milton — A Jansenist Dictionary 
—Manuscripts and Books— The Turkish Spy— Spenser, 
Jonson, and Shakspeare— Ben Jonson, Feltham and Ran- 
dolph— Ariosto and Tasso— Venice— Bayle— Cervantes— 
Maoliabechi-Abridgers— Professors of Plagiarism and 
Obscurity— Literary Dutch— The Productions of the Mind 
not seizable by Creditors— Critics — Anecdotes of Authors 
Censured Virginity — A Glance into the French Acad- 
emy Poetical and Grammatical Deaths — Scarron— Peter 

Comeille— Poets— Romances— Tlie Astrea— Poets Lau- 
reate— Angelo Politian— Original Letter of Queen Eliza- 
beth—Anne BuUen— James I.— General Monk and his 
Wife— Philip and Mary— Charles the First^ — Duke of 
Buckinsham— The Death of Charles IX.— Royal Promo- 
tions—Nobility—Modes of Salutation, and Amicable Cere- 
monies, observed in various Nations — Singularities of 

War Fire, and the Origin of Fire-Works — The P.ible 

Prohibited and Iniijroved — Origin of the Materials of 



Writing— Anecdotes of European Manners — The Early 
Drama— The Marriage of the Arts— A Contrivance in 
Dramatic Dialogue— The Comedy of a Madman— Soli- 
tude— Literary Friendships— Anecdotes of Abstraction of 
Mind — Richardson — Theological Style — Influence of 
Names— The Jews of York — The Sovereignty of the Seas 
—On the Custom of Kissing Hands— Popes— Literary 
Composition — Poetical Imitations and Similarities — Ex- 
planation of the Fac-Simile — Literary Fashions— The Pan- 
tomimical Characters — Extempore Comedies— Massinger, 
Milton, and the Italian Theatre— Songs of Trades, or Songa 
for the People— Introducers of Exotic Flowers, Emits, etc. 

Usurers of the Seventeenth Century— Chidiock Titch- 

boume— Elizabeth and her Parliament— Anecdotes of 
Prince Henry, the Son of James I., when a Child— The 
Diary of a Master of the Ceremonies— Diaries : Moral, 
Historical and Critical — Licensers of the Press— Of Ana- 
grams and Echo Verses— Orthography of Proper Names — 
Names of our Streets— Secret History of Edv/ard Vere, 
Earl of Oxford— Ancient Cookery and Cooks— Ancient 
and Modern Satumalia — Reliqua; Gethinians — Robinson 
Cmsoe— Catholic and Protestant Dramas— The History of 
the Theatre during its suppression— Drinking-Customs in 
England — Literary Anecdotes — Condemned Poets — Aca- 
jou and Zirphile— Tom O'Bedlams— Introduction of Tea, 
Coffee and Chocolate— Charles the First's Love of the 
Fine Arts — The Secret Histoiy of Charles I. and his Queen 
Henrietta— The Minister ; the Cardinal Duke of Richelieu 
—The Minister ; Duke of Buckingham, Lord Admiral, 
Lord General, &c. &c. &c.— Felton, the Political Assassin 
— Johnson's Hints for the Lil'e of Pope. 

SECOND SERIES. 

Modem Literature — Characteristics of Bayle — Cicero 
viewed as a Collector — History of Caraccas — English 
Academy of Literature — Quotation — Origin of Dante's 
Inferno— Of a History of Events which have not hap- 
pened—Of False Political Reports — Of Suppressors and 
Dilapidators of Manuscripts — Parodies — Anecdotes of the 
Fairfax Family — Medicine and Morals — Psalm Singing — • 
On the Ridiculous Titles assumed by the Italian Acade- 
mies — On the Hero of Hudibras ; Butler Vindicated — 
Shenstone's School Mistress- Ben Jonson on Translation 

The Loves of the Lady Arabella — Domestic History of 

Sir Edward Coke— Of Coke's Stj-le and his Conduct— Se- 
cret History of Authors who have mined their Booksell- 
ers — Local Descriptions — Masques— Of Des Maizeaux 
1 and the Secret History of Anthony Collins's Manuscripta 
—History of New Words — Political Nick-Names— Domes- 
tic Life of a Poet— Shenstone Vindicated— Secret History 
of the Building of Blenheim— Secret History ci Sir Wai- 
ter Raleigh— Literarj' Unions- Secret Histcrj of Ra- 
leigh's History of the World and Vasari"s Lives— Of a Bi- 
ography Painted — Cause and Pretext — Political Forgeries 
and Fictions — Expression of Suppressed Opinion — Auto- 
graphs—History of Writing-Masters— Italian Historians — 
Palaces built by Ministers — " Taxation no TjTanny " — 
Book of Death— History of the Skeleton of Death— Rival 
Biographers of Hcylin— Of Lenglot du Frcsnoy— Diction- 
ary of Trevou.K — Quadrio's Account oi' English Poetry — 
Political Religionism— Toleration— Apolocy for the Parisian' 
Massacre— Prediction — Dreams at the DawTi of Philoso- 
phy-Puck the Commentator— Literary Forgeries — Lit- 
erary Filchers— Lord Bacon at Home— Secret History of 
the Death of Queen Elizabeth— James the First as a Fa- 
ther and Husband— The JIan of One Book— .\ Bibliog- 



BOSte — Secret History of an Elective Monarchy ; a Polit- 
ical Sketch— Buildings in the Metropolis and Residence 
in the Country— Royal ProcIamatious—TiTie Sources of 
Secret Histoiy— Literary Residences — Whether Allowa- 
ble to Ruin One's Self— Discoveries of Secluded Men- 
Sentimental Biography- Literary Parallels — The Pearl 
Bible and Six Thousand EiTata — View of a Particular Pe- 
riod of the State of Religion in our Civ-il Wars — Bucking- 
ham's Political Coqueti-y with the Puritans— Sir Edward 
Coke's exceptions against the High Sheriff's Oath — Se- 
cret History of Charles the First and his Parliaments — 
The Rump— Life and Habits of a Literary Antiquary— 
Oldys and hia MSS. 



THE LITERARY CHARACTER, &c. WITH THE HIS- 
TORY OF MEN OF GENIUS. 

On Literary Characters — Youth of Genius — The First 
Studies — The Irritability of Genius — The Spirit of Litera- 
ture, and the Spirit of Society — Literary Solitude — Med- 
itations of Genius — The Enthusiasm of Genius — Literary 
Jealousy — Want of Mutual Esteem — Self Praise — The Do- 
mestic Life of Genius— The Matrimonial State — Litei-ary 
Friendships — The Literary and Personal Character — The 
Man of Letters — Literary Old Age— Literary Honors — The 
Influence of Authors. 



The new American Edition of this work contains, also, 



CUEIOSITIES OF AMERICAN LITERATURE. 

BY RUFUS W. GRISWOLD. 



"American Taxation " — Authorship of the Declaration 
©f Independence — American Cadmus — Anagrams — Ethan 
Allen — Bay Psalm Book — Anne Bradstreet ; her Poemo — 
" Battle of Bunker Hill " — Ballad on the Buraing of 
Charleslown-" Ballad of the Tea Party" — "Battle of 
Trenton " — " Brave Pawling and the Spy " — " BoH Haw- 
thorne " — " Battle of the Kegs " — Byles, Mather, and Jo- 
Beph Green — Alexander H. Bogart— Life, Writings and 
Opinions of Barlow — Beveridge : his Latin Poems — Cu- 
rious Account of the Battle of Saratoga — The Cow Chase, 
written by Andre — Cherokee Alphabet ; invention of— 
Correspondence of Dr. Mayhew Controversial Menda- 
city — Literaiy Confederacies — Dunton's " Life and Er- 
rors " — Dedication of the Indian Bible — " Discourse con- 
cerning the CuiTcncies in the British Plantations in 
America — Lord Timothy Dexter; his "Pickle for the 
Knowing Ones" — Dedications and Introductory Poems — 
Dr. Dwight and Mr. Dennie — Thomas Dudley ; Epitaph 
on — Eliot and his Indian Translations— Epitaphs, Ana- 
grams and Elegies of the Puritans — Elegy on Thomas 
Shepard. by Urian Oakes — Editorial Recantations — Framp- 
ton's " New Found World " — " Free America," by General 
Warren — "Fate of John Burgoyne," a Ballad — Peter 
Foulger : his " Looking-Glass for the Times " — Fabi-ica- 
tion of Authorities — Joseph Green and Byles — History of 
Connecticut, by Dr. Peters — Francis Hopkinson— Rev. 
^ ' " ' for his 



Death— Josselyn'a two Voyages to America— Keith's 
" Travels from New-Hampshire to Caratuck,"— Love- 
well's Fight, Ballad on— Cotton Mather : his Life and 
Character ; his connection with the Witchcraft Delusion; 
Grahame's Opinion of his "Magnalia"— Minstrelsy of the 
Indian Wars and the Revolution— Dr. Jonathan Mayhew 
— " New-England's Prospect,"—" The North Campaign," a 
Ballad — William Penn and John Locke— Poetry of Gov- 
ernor Wolcott — Poem by Allen on the Bo-ston Massaci-e — 
The Patriot's Appeal—" Progi-ess of Sir Jack Brag " — 
Robert Treat Paine ; High Prices paid for his Poems ; 
Rapidity with which he wrote — Rare and Curious Books 
by the Early Travelers in America — Rogers's " Concise 
Account of North America " — Rivington and Freneau — 
Rivington's Confessions; Last Will and Testament; Epi- 
grams on— Edward Randolph — "Randolph's Welcome" 
—James Ralph — Rapid Composition — " Simple Cobler of 
Aggawam " — Satirical, Dramatic, and other Poems, writ- 
ten during the Revolution — " ■"^ong for the Sons of Lib- 
erty " — Dr. J. M. •'^ewall ; his Writings— Sands ; Fabrica- 
tion of Authorities — Benjamin Towne " Virgo Tri- 

umphans " — " Virginia Richly Valued," &c.— Verses on 
the Massacre of Wyoming — Roger Williams and liis Con- 
troversies — Nathaniel Ward ; his " Simple Cobler of Ag- 
gawam " — War Song, written in 1776 — Michael Wiggles- 
worth ; Extracts from his " Day of Doom ;" Epitaph on 

Dr. Witherspoon and Benjamin Towne. 



Thomas Hooker, Elegy on, by Cotton ; Lament 

^^ The above work is published complete in one very large royal octavo volume, handsomely bound 
in full cloth, lettered and gilt backs, with a Portrait of the author, and is sold at the low price of $2 50. It 
is published in New- York by Greeley & McElrath, but can be purchased through any Bookseller. 



GERMAN LANGUAGE. 



A PHRASE BOOK IN ENGLISH AND GERMAN, with a Literal Translation of the German into 
English, together with a Complete Explanation of the Sounds and the Accentuation of the German : 
By MoBiTZ Ertheiler. (For Schools and Private Learners.) Price 25 cents, or, bound, 37^ cents* 



WHO WANTS TO BUY A COW? 

A TREATISE ON MILCH COWS, 

Whereby the Quality and Quantity of Milk which any Cow will give may be accurately determined, by observ- 
ing Natural Marks or External Indications alone ; the length of time she will continue to give Milk, <fec., <tc. 
By M. FRANCIS GUENON, of Liborne, France. Translated for ♦.he Farmers' Library, from the French, by 
N. P. Trist, Esq., late United States Consul at Havana. With Introductory Remarks and Observations oa 

The Cow and the Dairy? 

BY JOHN S. SKINNER, EDITOR OF THE FARMERS' LIBRARY. 

ILLUSTRATED WITH NUMEROUS ENGRAVINGS. 

OZ? Price for single copies, neatly done up in paper covers, 37J cents. Library edition, full bound in cloth 
and lettered, 62 1-2 cents. The usual discount to Booksellers, Agents, Country Merchants, and Pedlars. 

This extraordinary Book has excited the attention of the ablest Agriculturists of the country. Five Thou- 
sand copies were sold in the first four weeks of its publication in New York. The Publishers have received 
numerous testimonials as to the usefulness and accuracy of Guenon's Theory, while others, from partial ex- 
periments, have doubted its accuracy. The practical remarks, and the useful information contained in the 
iirsi part ol the Book is ..orth rr.ore to .any Furiner than t!ie whole cost. 

Country Merchants visiting any of the Cities, can procure the Work from Booksellers for those who may 
wish to obtain it Please send on your orders. Address, 

GREELEY &, McELRATH, Publishers, Tribune Buildings, New York, 



Now publishing in Monthly Parts, in the FARMERS^ LIBRAR Y, 
Price 50 cents each, or ^5 per annum, 

THE BOOK OF THE FARM: 

BEING A SYSTEMATIC WORK ON] 

PRACTICAL AGRICULTURE, 

ON AN ENTIRELY NEW AND ORIGINAL PLAN. 

BY HENRY STEPHENS, 

Editor of " The Quarterly Journal of Agriculture," and " Prize Essays and Transactions of the Highland 

and Agricultural Society of Scotland." 

ILLUSTRATED NA^ITH PORTRAITS OF ANIMALS, 

PAINTED FROM THE LIFE— BEAUTIFULLY ENGRAVED ; AND NUMEROUS WOODCUTS AND 

PLATES OF AGRICULTURAL IIVIPLEMENTS, 

So particularized as to enable Country Mechanics to construct them from the descriptions. 

Of the style, costliness, and volume of this celebrated work, some idea may be 
formed, when we state that, in the first place, it contains more than 1400 pages, 
with upward of Six Hundred Engravings! and, further, that in England it re- 
quired more than two years to publish it, and cost there $24. This neat work is 
now publishing in the Farmers^ Library. No farmer who thirsts for knowledge 
himself, or who aspires to have his son rise to the true " post of honor," the digni- 
fied station of an intellectual and accomplished agriculturist, can justifiably deny 
himself such a work as is found in the Farmers' Library and Monthly Jour- 
nal OF Agriculture. 

Among the Six Hundred Engravings which will be published in this BOOK OF 
THE FARM, we have only room to mention the following: — 

Views of Farmsteads, or Farm Buildings ; Fine Specimens of Cattle, Horses, 
Oxen, Swine, Cows, Sheep, &c. ; Thrashing-Machines ; Sowing-Machines ; Grub- 
bers ; The Farm-House ; Servant's Houses ; Fences ; Thorn Hedges ; Field Gates ; 
Stone Dykes ; Embankments ; Draining — an Open Drain in Grass : Covered do. ; 
Planks and Wedges to prevent Sides of Drains falling in, &c., &c., &c. AGRI- 
CULTURAL IMPLEMENTS of all kinds; Various Kinds of Plows: Sections 
and Parts of do. ; Shovels ; Scoops ; Spades ; Plumb-Level ; Swing-Trees for two 
Horses, for three Horses, for four Horses ; Harrows ; Horse-Hoes ; Rollers ; Straw- 
Piacks; Water-Troughs ; Straw-Cutters ; Shepherd's Crook; Snow Plow; Dung- 
Hawk; Scythe and Bend Sned ; Bull's Ring ; Bullock Holder; Rakes; Form of 
Haystacks; Corn-Bruisers; Riddles; Ptope-Spinners ; Ladders; Bean-Drill; In- 
strument for Topping Turneps ; Turnep-Trough for Feeding Sheep ; Movable Shed 
for Sheep ; Oil-Cake Breaker; Wheelbarrow; Turnep Slicer for Sheep ; Probang 
for relieving Cattle of Choking; the Milking-Pail ; Curd-Cutter; Cheese-Vat; 
Churns; Cheese-Press; &c., &c. Horse-Cart; Liquid-Manure Cart ; Single-horse 
Tilt-Cart, &:c., fee, &c. Various Operations connected with the Culture of Grain 
&c., &c., &c. Also, Plans for Irrigation ; Insects affecting Live Stock and Crops ; 
Harness, Bridle-Bit, Collars, Sec, fcc, &c., k.c. 

\Cr This great Work is now publishing in the FARMERS' LIBRARY AND 
MONTHLY JOURNAL OF AGRICULTURE, the subscription price of whicli 
is $5 per annum. Every farmer, and every gentleman who owns land or culti- 
vates a garden, is earnestly requested to examine this Work. 

GREELEY & McELRATH, Publishers. 

New York, JuIt/ 1, 1846. 



I 



STEPHENS'S BOOK OF THE PARI. 

The following general titles of chapters and parts of the Work of Mr. Stephens, will 
give only a very imperfect notion of the variety and extent of the entire contents. 



CONTENTS OF STEPHENS'S 

1. The difficulties which the young farmer has 49 

to encounter at the outset of leai'uing prac- 50. 
tical Husbandry. 

2. The means of overcoming those difficulties. 51. 

3. The kind of information to be found in ex- 

istent works on Aginculture. ai>. 

i. The construction of "The Book of the 53 

Farm." 54. 

5. The existing methods of learning practical 55. 

Husbandry. 

6. The establishment of scientific institutions 

of practical Agriculture. 

7. The evils attendant on landowners neglect- 

ing to leani practical Agriculture. 

8. Experimental farms as places for instruc- 

tion I'll farming. 

9. A few words to young farmers who intend 

emigrating as agricultural settlers to the 
ooloi'iies. 

10. The kind of education best suited to young 

farmers. 

11. The different kinds of farming. 

12. Choosing the kind of farming. 

13. Selecting a tutor farmer for teaching farming. 

14. The pupilage. 

15. Dealing with the details of farming. 

WINTER. 

16. The steading or farmstead. 

17. The fann-house. 

18. The persons who labor the farm. 

19. The weather in winter. 

20. Climate. 

21. Observing and recording facts. 

22. Soils and subsoils. 

23. Enclosures and shelter. 

24. TUe planting of thorn hedges. 

25. The plow. 

26. The various modes of plowing ridges. 

27. Draining. 

28. Yoking and harnessing the plow, and of 

swing-trees. 

29. Plowing stubble and lea-ground. 

30. Trench and subsoU plowing, and moor-land 

pan. 

31. Drawing and stowing turnips, mangel-wur- 

zel, cabbage, carrots, and parsnips. 

32. The feeding of sheep on turnips in winter. 

33. Driving and slaughtering sheep. 

34. Hearing and feeding cattle on turnips in 

winter. 

35. Driving and slaughtering cattle. 

36. The treatment of farm-horses in winter. 

37. Fattening, driving, and .slaughtering .swine. 

38. The treatment of fowls in winter. 

39. Threshing and winnowing grain, and of the 

the threshing-machine. 

40. The wages of fai'ui-servants. 

41. Com markets. 

42. The farm-smith, joiner, and saddler. 

43. The forming of dung-hills, and of liquid ma- 

nure tanks. 

45. Winter irrigation. 

SPRING. 

46. Cows calving, and of calves. 

47. The advantages of having field-work in a 

forward state. 

48. Cross-plowing, drilling, and ribbing land. 



56. 
56. 
57. 
53. 
59. 
60. 

61. 

62. 

63. 

64. 
65. 

66. 
67. 

68. 

69. 
69. 
70. 
71. 
72. 
73. 

74. 
75. 

76. 

77. 

78. 
79. 



80. 



81. 
82. 
83. 



89. 



BOOK OF THE FARM. 

Sowing spring wheat and grass seeds. 

Sowing be-ans, peas, tares, lucerne, sainfoin, 
flax, and hemp. 

Switching, pruning, and water-tabling thorn- 
hedges. 

Hiring farm-servants. 

Sowing oat-seed. 

The lambing of ewes. 

The traming and working the shepherd's 
dog. 

Sowing barley-.i;eed. 

Turning dunghills and composts. 

Planting potatoes. 

Breaking in young draught-horses. 

Sows farrowing or littering. 

The hatching of fowls. 

SUMMER. 

The sowing of turnips, mangel-wurzel, rape, 
carrots, and parsnips. 

Repairing the fences of grass-fields, and the 
proper construction of field-gates. 

The weaning of calves, bulls, and the graz- 
ing of cattle till winter. 

Marcs foaling, stallions, and horses at grass. 

Sheep-washing, sheep-shearing, and wean- 
ing of lambs. 

Rolling the fleece, and the qualities of wool. 

The making of butter and cheese. 

Weeding com, gi-een crops, pastures, and 
of casualties to plants. 

Hay-making. 

Summer-fallowing, and liming the soil. 

Building stone-dykes. 

Embankments against rivulets. 

Forming water-meadows. 

Breaking-iu young saddle-horses. 

AUTUMN. 

Pulling flax and hemp, and of the hop. 

Reaping rye, wheat, barley, oats, beans, and 
peas. 

Carrying in and stacking wheat, barley, 
oats, beans, and peas. 

Drafting ewes and gimmers, tupping ewes, 
and bathing and smearing sheep. 

Lifting and pitting potatoes. 

Sowing annual wheat, and the construction 
and principles of agricultural wheel-car- 
riages. 

Eggs. 



Rotation of crops. 

Fertilizing the soil by means of manures. 

The points possessed by the domesticated 
animals most desirable for the farmer to 
cultivate. 

Making experiments on farms. 

Destroying and scaring vermin on fai'ms. 

Looking at a farm, its rent — its lease — its 
stocking — the capital required for it. 

Improving waste land. 

Farm book-keeping. 

The conveniences of the cottages of farm- 
servants. 

The care to be bestowed on the preserva- 
tion of implements. 

Index. 



Extracts from the Critical Notices published in England during the publication 

of the work in London. 

From the London Times. 

"The firet part or number of this work has just been published by Messrs. Blackwood. It is written by 
Mr. Henry Stephens, a gentleman already known to the public in his editorial character in the Quarterly 
Journal of Agriculture. The great merit of the work, as far as it has yet gone, is the intelligible manner in 
which it is written, and the strong good sense with which it is distinguished. The proposed arrangement, 
set forth in the plan of the work, is clear and satisfactory ; and the whole number is valuable as being the 
result of practical experience and competent theoretic knowledge. It is a book which will be received with 
gratitude by those who are really anxious to profit by instruction, and whose anxiety for improvement is 
not impeded by prejudice." ..." The plan of the work, it may again be observed, is very good— the 
reasoning is logical — the assertions are the results of accurate examination and repeated exjjenence. In 
addition to the information conveyed in the letter-press, the book is ornamented by accurate and handsome 
plates of agricultural animals, implements of farming, plans of farming, &;c. &c." 

From the Newcastle Courant. 

" Mr. Stephens's work is divided into three portions. In the first, the pupil is shown the difficulties he has 
to encounter in acquiring a competent knowledge of farming as a profession, and the most easy and effect- 
\ial methods of overcoming these. The second portion details the various kinds of farming practiced in the 
country, and points out that which the Author reckons the best for adoption under given circumstances. — 
The third and concluding portion accompanies the young farmer into the world, where it acquaints him 
how to look about for a proper farm for himself" 

From Felix Farley's Bristol Journal. > 

•^ When we say that the Author is Mr. Henry Stephens, we are safe in expressing our conviction that the 
results of his penetration, judgment, and experience, so placed before the public, will confer an advantage 
on the agricultural interest of no common order. We therefore predict aiarge measure of success to the 
intended work." 

From The Argus. 
" We regard it as a national work ; and, from the masterly maimer tn which Mr. Stephens handles tiis 
subjects, we feel assured it must become a standard one. His thorough practical knowledge, backed by bis 
scientific acquirements, makes the Author's fitness for the task conspicuous ; and the unpresuming manner 
in which his talent is displayed enhances its value s.'ill more in our eyes." 

From the Midland Counties Herald. 
" The entirely practical nature of this work, and th^ evident care with which it is produced, will, we 
think, render it one of the most useful publichtions for the farmer which has yet appeared" 

From The Times. 
" The great merit of the work, as far as it has yet gone, is the intelligible manner in which it is written, 
and the strong good sense with which it is distinguished. It is a book which will be received with grati- 
tude by those who are really anxious to profit by instruction, and whose anxiety for improvement is Hot 
impeded by prejudice. 

From the Birmingham Advertiser. 
" The farmers of England would do well to possess themselves of this work, for the rariety of useful in- 
formation, and the many practical suggestions it contains." 

From The Britannia. 

" The two parts now before us are models of clear, sensible composition, and form such an introductioa 
to the practice of farming as has never been published before. The author brings to his task a large store 
of knowledge, sound sense and a lucid style." "We are quite sure that never was any work more called 
for, by the intelligence of the age than this ' Book of the JFarra,' and believe that it could not have been 
entruFted to more competent hands, or produced in better style. We strongly recommend it to all classes 
of agriculturists as a publication of decided utility, and likely to be most serviceable to them in the auc- 
cessful prosecution of their labors." 

From the Sporting Reviem. 

" The work before us is one of the most practical results of so patriotic a spirit It is a most wel- 
come addition to our rural literature. As it proceeds, we hope to transfer some of its good things to 
our pages. 

From the New Farmers' Journal, 

" On all these important points, no one is better qualified to till the office of a mentor than Mr. Stephens, 
of which the well-arranged plan, and judicious execution, of the book before us, atford irrefragable 
testimony." 

The Concluding Paragraph. 

Mr. Stephens, the Author of the above named work, was engaged for several years in writing 

iL Its publication was commenced in London in January, 1842, and concluded in August, 1844. 

The Author closes the work in the following words : 

" I have now brought to a termination the task I had imposed upon myself in writing this work. 
If you will but follow the prescriptions I have given in it, for conducting the larger operations of 
the field, and for treating the various animals of the farm ; and — not to mention the proper plow- 
ing and manuring of the soil — as the practice of every farmer demonstrates the necessity of afford- 
ing due attention to those most important because fundamental operations, if you finish off your 
fields in a manner indicating care and neatness — plowing round their margins, and turning over 
the comers ; if you keep your fences clean and in a state of repair — your fields free of weeds ; if 
you give your stock abundance of fresh food at regular intervals in winter, and supply them with 
plenty of clean water on fresh pastures in summer ; if you have the farm roads always in a ser- 
viceable state, and everything about the steading neat and orderly ; if yon exhibit skill and taste 
in all these matters, and put what is called a fine skin on your farm, you will not fail to earn for 
yourself the appellation of a good and exemplary farmer: and when you have everything about 
you ■ thus well disposed,' you will find, with Hesiod of old, tkat profitably, as well as creditably, 
for yon ' shall glide away thy rustic year.' " 



^ ^l^^PQ^l 



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